Long Tooth Pack Queen
by Mrstrentreznor
Summary: Set post BD, MA rating, Alcide wanders into Quileute pack territory. Weres and shifters are still a secret in the SV world.
1. Alcide visits the Pacific Northwest

**Long tooth pack queen**

1. Alcide visits the Pacific Northwest

Author: mrstrentreznor

Title: long tooth pack queen

Rating: MA for sex, language  
>Fandom: crossover of Twilight and The Southern Vampire Mysteries.<br>Pairing: Alcide Herveaux and Leah Clearwater

Feedback: please and thankyou

Summary: Alcide wanders into Quileute pack territory. Set post BD. Weres and shifters are still a secret in the SV world.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: garbled explanatory notes from the author<strong>

_Set some time after 'Breaking Dawn' in the twilight world. Hereinafter referred to as BD or 'that book that will not be named'. So that puts this sometime in early 2008. The big vamp (non) battle with the Volturi in BD was 31 December 2007._

_I have had real problems with reconciling some of the things from both books. I've not really tried to write a cross-over fic before and I suspect this may be a common issue. _

_One major issue is of course, that the Cullens are non canon vamps. They are day-walkers, with weird coloured eyes, who can't be staked because of their marble skin and have none of the 'normal' vampire characteristics. I'm assuming __**real**__ vampires want nothing to do with them either. Maybe they made a treaty? You weirdos stay over there in the Pacific Northwest. No really; it's yours._

_Of more difficulty is that in the Sookie world, or the Southern Vampire Mysteries world, vampires are __**real**__. They own businesses. Run Goth bars and have divided up the world into kingdoms of their own. They are on the TV and it is big news. Fashion Police for vamps? They literally __**have**__ been wearing that suit since 1970._

_I can't explain in a rational way, why the Quileute don't know about this. Or maybe they do, but continue to kill them anyway and after scaring off the __**freaking**__ Volturi, who is going to argue with them? No vampire in their right mind is going to stray onto their land or go near the weirdo Cullens. The pack didn't go to Seattle to hunt Victoria's army, a mere four hours away by car, so I am assuming that they have an outer limit of responsibility, beyond which they don't patrol. ALL vamps stay over there and we won't hurt __**you**__._

_There are more vampires in areas the vamps prefer, like New Orleans. In the Sookie world, they are quite the tourist attraction. _

_Bon Temps, where Sookie lives, is a fictional town. I will admit I only found that out __**after**__ I had looked it up on Google maps… yeesh. *rolls eyes at self*_

_Another issue is, this is book Alcide not true blood TV Alcide. So I will follow the book storylines as to what has happened to him. BUT Joe Manganiello is the finest piece of man flesh I have seen in many a year. So I want __**him**__ on the banners. Deal with it. In the books Alcide has black hair and green eyes, so I have compromised and given him a beard (for Joe), but I like the green eyes, and the black hair, so they can stay._

_There are spoilers for what happens to Alcide in the Sookie books, but he is a minor character really and it shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of the books if you wanted to read them for yourself one day, if you haven't already done so._

_I have set this at a time when the shifters and Weres have not yet revealed the truth of their existence, which is why the Quileute don't know about other wolf packs in the world. Because there is just__** no way**__ I am able to explain why the Quileute missed that!_

_Really, I have taken bits from the Sookie books as I see fit. It doesn't quite fit in the book chronology anywhere._

_Sookie is one eighth fairy and has the ability to read minds. That makes it basically impossible for her to date humans. Imagine knowing what your date is thinking? I mean really? It is harder for her to pick up clear thoughts from Weres, and almost impossible to read the mind of a vamp. Touch increases the strength of her mind reading. In the books, she and Alcide tried to date for a very short time (mentioned in one of the short stories), but currently she is blood bound to vampire Sherriff Eric Northman._

_So, to summarise, in the Sookie world, vampires are out and proud, but the two-natured (shifters and Weres) are still secret and have not revealed their existence to the world, __**yet**__. _

_And in the twilight world, Jake has imprinted on Renesmee. I have changed one thing, and left Quil and Embry with Sam's pack._

_I think that's everything…if you are confused, just ask me and we can all be confused together…_

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p><strong>1. Alcide visits the Pacific Northwest<strong>

**March 2008**

Alcide Herveaux stood in the hardware store in some pissy town in the damp Pacific Northwest. Port Angeles. He was holding a laser measurer in his hand and wondering if he could claim it as a business expense. Might be able to. He needed it to do his job. But he had always had one of these and he had left it at home. They were cool, but expensive. He sighed. This probably wasn't the right place to be buying it, even if he got a trade discount.

He put it back on the shelf.

He was a surveyor in the building and construction industry. He owned his own business with bi-state offices in Shreveport, Monroe, Jackson and Baton Rouge. Business was good.

And he was also a werewolf. Not just any wolf; he was the pack-master of the Shreveport, Louisiana Long Tooth pack. That was what they called themselves. After Hurricane Katrina, his pack had swelled in numbers, taking in other groups of surviving shifters from the destroyed New Orleans. Not without some casualties along the way, and one or two fights, but at present, they were all getting along fine.

A man crossed behind him and Alcide stiffened.

He turned slowly and checked the guy up and down. Native American. And solid. He was big; maybe bigger around than Alcide and that was saying something. But not as tall. Alcide stood 6ft 5 in his bare feet, but as he was wearing safety boots as he always did when he was working, it added at least another inch and a half to his height.

He studied the guy. Young too, although he looked older. Mostly in the face. Aged too quickly. Seen some battles. Probably not even twenty. But big and muscular. Large round native tattoo on his upper arm.

And he was definitely a shifter. He smelt like wolf. He was a Were.

The guy noticed his scrutiny and gave him a look. But then he stiffened himself and inhaled sharply.

He gave Alcide more than a look now.

The two men would have circled each other warily if they were in the forest, but they were in a shop so they just studied each other, without moving.

The two natured as shape-changers and shifters liked to call each other, had not revealed the truth of their existence to the world yet. Not like the vampires; the deaders. But there was much agitation in their community to do so. They had to balance the advantages with the disadvantages. They could frighten people; be ostracised or marked somehow. Lord knows it had happened before in the world. People weren't good with different.

True shifters like Sam Merlotte, Sookie's boss and owner of the bar she worked in, could shift into any animal they wanted. He preferred a nice friendly collie; he argued that people tended not to get frightened of him that way. He said dogs didn't get shot. But Alcide had seen him take on the form of a lion during a battle and he could be a bloodhound when the need arose or anything else he wanted to be. The weres could shift into one thing only: werebat, werepanther, weretiger, weredog whatever… and of course werewolf.

Given there were so many that took the form of wolves, they just called themselves Weres with a capital W and let's see anyone fight them for that honour. Nobody did.

Alcide was surprised to run into another Were here; he didn't know there was a pack in this area. And if there was one thing packs fought over it was territory. He should not have entered another packs' territory without seeking permission first. Especially as he was a pack-master. It could be taken as an insult or alternatively a takeover attempt.

But he had checked; he was a careful man. He didn't make stupid mistakes. The guy with the tattoo didn't appear to be a lone wolf. But you never knew.

They eyed each other warily. Alcide nodded at him.

Quil Ateara lifted his chin in a nod at the big dude. Shit, he was nearly as big as Jake. Then he gave another jerk of his head. "Outside," he said calmly.

"Okay," a deep rumbly voice answered evenly.

Alcide followed Quil out of the store. They stood on the pavement.

They both looked around. No one was within earshot. But they could speak below normal hearing levels anyway and know they would be heard and understood.

"I apologise," Alcide started. "I didn't know there was another pack in this area." His accent was Southern. He assumed the guy was part of a pack; the tattoo looked like a group thing.

Quil was still processing the fact that this guy was a wolf and that he seemed unsurprised to have run into another one. He wasn't even native American. His skin had a swarthy tanned look, but he was sporting a full beard.

He didn't know what to say, so he went with, "Hmmm."

Alcide studied him. "I need to meet with the pack-master to explain why I have come without permission onto this territory. This is your territory?" he checked.

Quil nodded. "I can talk to him. You here for work or pleasure?" He assumed the guy meant his pack leader; the Alpha. Sam Uley.

"Work. Construction." He reached into his shirt pocket and handed him a business card.

Typical. They all kind of worked in construction, too. Mostly for Sam's business. He noticed the name on the card. AAA Accurate Surveys, and underneath in smaller print. Herveaux and son. Weird spelling.

Alcide's father had passed, but he had kept the name; it had a lot of respect in both communities. The two natured and the oneys.

"Alcide Herveaux, that's me."

Quil nodded. Fucker **owned** the company. "Where are you staying?" he asked.

Alcide told him. They arranged to meet in a bar a few blocks away at 6pm that night. The noise of the bar should hide their conversation. And a public place, meant they had to behave.

They didn't shake hands, but they gave each other a nod.

Quil ran home to tell Sam. He and Embry were thinking of jumping ship and joining Jake's smaller pack. At the minute it was just Jake, Leah and Seth. Sam had asked them to hold off for a little while until he got all the newbie wolves under better control and they had done so, out of respect for him. But they were twitchy; they wanted to be with Jake, their best friend. The wolf packs totalled seventeen now. Luckily, after the Volturi altercation, no more kids had phased.

The fastest way for Quil to show Sam what had happened, was for them both to phase. Sam studied Quil's memories of the man. He was big and he smelt like wolf.

_Sam: fuck! He's definitely a wolf._

_Quil: and big too… he's Jake's size._

_Sam: construction? _

_Quil: yep. Gave me his card._

_Sam: we'd better look him up on the net._

There was a pause.

_Sam: another wolf… he wasn't surprised to meet you?_

_Quil: just said he should have asked permission before coming onto our land… Sam, he made it sound like there were other packs and that there were rules about how packs dealt with each other… how come we haven't heard of any other packs?_

_Sam: I don't know…_

_Quil: six o'clock at Bar N9ne on West 1st street._ Quil managed to make his wolf look mischievous. _You'll be home in time for dinner._

Sam growled at him.

Quil just laughed. He knew that bar was **so** not Sam's style.

8888888888

Sam didn't tell Quil NOT to tell Jake so he did… tell him, that is. He rang him. Jake hated to be parted from little Renesmee right now and Quil understood that, having his own small girl imprint. Jake said he would send Leah, his second, in to check it out.

Quil didn't think that was such a great idea, but Jake knew Leah and maybe she was a little better with Sam these days. Once she had joined Jake's pack, life for Sam had become a whole lot easier. She usually didn't pick fights with Sam in front of strangers. But Quil had a bad feeling about this. Maybe Seth would have been a better idea. But it wasn't Quil's job to tell Jake how to run his pack and she _was_ his beta wolf; his second.

But he kind of forgot to tell Sam that he had told Jake and that Leah would be attending. Quil's loyalties were a little divided right now.

FF_2154210_ - 14/08/2011 01:46:00 PM


	2. Bar N9ne meeting

**2. Bar N9ne meeting**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Sam sat in the bar. He felt unaccountably nervous and he didn't know why. He supposed it was meeting another wolf. Another Alpha; no what had he called himself? A pack-master. Quil was utterly certain that this Alcide bloke <strong>was<strong> another wolf. Quil didn't make mistakes like that. So Sam had to believe him. But he had a feeling that this meeting was going to be one of those watershed moments in your life. Everything after this meeting was going to be different, he could just feel it.

Over the years, Sam had learnt to trust his intuition.

He saw the man enter the bar. He recognised him from Quil's mental picture. He was wearing faded jeans, a white t-shirt with a checked shirt open over the top and safety boots. He scanned the bar and Sam caught his eye and nodded at him. He approached the table Sam had chosen. It was in the centre of the room, close to the jukebox with plenty of room around it. Just in case. Sam didn't want to be trapped in a booth. He had got there first, so he was facing the door. The other chair was opposite him with its back to the door. Quil was right, he was bigger than Sam. That uneasy feeling in Sam's stomach twisted a little.

Sam didn't know the etiquette, but his mother had taught him manners. He stood and held out a big hand. "Sam Uley," he said.

The man took his hand and shook it. A decent shake, but not a test of strength one. He had maturity this man. "Alcide Herveaux." He didn't pronounce the 'd'; it sounded like Al-see.

"Take a seat." Sam indicated the seat on the other side of the table. He had a beer in front of him. "Did you want a drink?" he waved at the waitress and she approached them.

"Why don't we get a pitcher of beer?" Alcide suggested.

Sam nodded. She returned in no time with a beer pitcher while the two men sat silently studying each other.

The juke box blared. They took up a low volume for their conversation; neither had any trouble hearing it.

"First off… let me say I didn't know there was a pack here…"

"Two," said Sam.

He blinked.

"One is a little smaller," Sam conceded. But it was a separate pack; with a separate leader. He thought suddenly he should have contacted Jake about this guy. He decided to take a chance. "Let me say something first…" He inhaled deeply.

Alcide waited.

"We were… unaware that there were others like us… anywhere." Sam looked serious.

Alcide believed him. He looked so honest. He took a sip of his beer to collect his thoughts. He had found the Were equivalent of an unknown Amazon tribe. "I must say, I did my research. I would never have come into an area without permission. I was surprised to run into…"

"Quil," Sam supplied.

"…Quil in the hardware store." He took another sip of his beer. "I'm not sure where your closest pack is, but I can find out for you. Louisiana is pretty far out of your way."

Sam nodded. "I'd appreciate that." He handed Alcide a business card of his own. "How long will you be in town?"

"My business is complete; maybe another day."

There was a commotion near the door. "Christ, Barney, how many times do I have to tell ya? Fuck off!"

Sam looked up and his heart sank. Leah Clearwater had entered the bar. That queasy feeling in Sam's stomach set into concrete.

She stalked over to the table. Sam was sometimes caught out by just how beautiful she was. It was like he had some kind of self defense mechanism where he would wipe clean all the memories of her. But the next time he saw her, her beauty always came as a surprise to him. It was like a punch to the gut.

Alcide didn't turn around. But he inhaled and then he rose to his feet. It was impressive. Sam had to give him that. He wondered for a second that he didn't point like a hunting dog finding prey.

Leah had been just behind him. She halted and she looked up and then she looked up some more.

Alcide turned slowly in place, pivoting on his feet and he looked her up and down.

She actually gasped a little. She had frozen like a deer in the headlights.

Sam realised that Jake had asked her to come but clearly neglected to warn her that this new guy was a wolf. He kicked himself again for not speaking to Jake direct.

Alcide took a step towards her and she took one to the opposite side; they actually circled each other. Never taking their eyes off each other.

He sniffed. "Who are _you_?" he asked in a low voice.

"Leah," she bit out.

Sam took a big gulp of his beer.

"Is she yours?" he asked Sam without looking at him.

"No." Short. A world of hurt lay in that one word.

"Why not? She's an alpha bitch." He spoke low enough not to be overheard by others.

"Not my pack," Sam spat out. It was not entirely the truth but it would do. He wondered at Leah's reaction. She hated people talking like she wasn't there. She should have swatted him by now.

But she hadn't.

Sam took another swig of his beer.

"Ah, the other pack," guessed Alcide. He gave Leah his full attention now; it was blinding. "Hello chere," he said in that deep, rumbly voice with that southern accent.

She blinked. "H-Hello." But she stayed back… maybe more than four feet away from him.

"He's not with you?" He indicated Sam with a head jerk.

"No. He told you that."

"Who is?"

"With me?" she checked.

He nodded.

"Nobody." She lifted her chin. "I'm not a piece of meat."

"You kidding me? You're prime rib, honey chil'." He gave her a serious look up and down; it wasn't an eye fuck but it was damn close to it and it held frank admiration. "You have no mate?" he checked again, as if he couldn't believe it.

"No. Jake is imprinted… mated," she corrected herself so that he would understand. "And the only other is my brother."

"Only three in your… pack?"

"Yes, for the moment. Two more want to join. But one of those is mated; Quil. That just leaves Embry." She shrugged.

"I've met Quil." A pause. "Do I need to meet Embry?"

She frowned at him. _What the heck did that mean?_

Alcide took a step towards her. She actually looked like she was going to run.

But then she got a real whiff of him.

She essentially leant **into** him; not away. And her eyes almost rolled up into her head.

Sam thought it was like watching a train crash. He could do nothing to stop it.

"Oh my," she gasped. "Who _are_ you?"

"Alcide Herveaux."

"Sounds French."

"It is; but I'm not," he growled at her in that deep baritone. "But I do French." He grinned at her.

She regained some self composure. "You're not from around these parts," she jested. She studied him again. Green eyes, thick black hair; tousled as if it defeated every comb that came near it. A neatly trimmed beard. Perfect teeth; white and sharp.

"Oh no, I'm from Shreveport, Louisiana."

"A southern belle?" She arched an eyebrow. "You gonna swoon on me?"

"Nope."

They started to circle each other again. Each step they moved a tiny bit closer together.

Her hand reached out and touched his chest as she circled. She couldn't stop herself from doing it.

"Hard," she whispered.

"Wanna see?" he whispered back.

Sam thought he might fuck her on a table in the bar; and worse, she might let him. He interrupted. "We are trying to have a meeting here, Leah," he chided.

"Fuck off Sam," she spat at him. "You're not my alpha." She didn't even look at him.

Alcide smiled. It was a slow appreciative smile. He liked his women feisty.

She stopped circling. She watched him.

He approached her very slowly. He reached out a hand to her; letting her scent him on the inside of his wrist. People in the bar were watching them now, even though they still couldn't hear what they were saying. They looked almost like they were going to fight. Sam was thinking it was a toss up as to whether they would fight or fuck.

"May I?" Alcide asked her. His hand was near the side of her face.

She nodded. A tiny jerk of her head.

His hand reached that last infinitesimal distance and his fingers pressed against the side of her neck. Odd that he didn't touch her face first.

She made a small noise in the back of her throat as her nose shifted towards his wrist.

He slid his hand down the side of her neck to cup the back of her head. He pulled her in close to him and took a step closer to her at the same time. It looked like a choreographed dance move. They were so close; it looked easier to close that gap, than to keep them apart.

Now they looked like they were going to dance.

She closed her eyes very slowly. She tilted her head. She bared her neck to him.

Sam made some wordless noise of frustration. She had submitted to him in animal terms. He must smell **really** good to her.

Alcide's eyes flicked to him and then back to Leah.

"He lost me," she explained. It would do as an explanation.

"Fool."

"Yes," she agreed.

His curled his body down over her and he pressed his face in towards her neck.

He scented her. The tiny gap between them closed. He pressed his nose in against the side of her neck and slid it up the side of her neck inhaling as he went. "Mmmm," he hummed. His heated breath tickled down the side of her throat.

She almost rubbed herself on him. Like a cat in heat. She stopped herself in time, but it was difficult for her. Sam could see how badly she wanted to do it. Her arms were locked at her sides; fists clenched. She wanted to touch him. He rose from his chair; he didn't know what he could do, but he had to look like he was doing something. He couldn't sit and watch the train wreck happen.

"Two pack-masters and you go to waste?" Alcide whispered incredulously.

"Yes," she agreed. "Waste."

Leah felt like she had lost control somehow. He was warm and hard and so very strong. He was almost as tall as Jake, and he was powerful. She could scent it.

"You're an alpha," she realised.

"Yes." He understood what she meant. He was top dog in his pack.

"How many in your pack?"

"Forty full Weres; a few bitten weres, plus families."

"Jesus!" said Sam. He fell back into his chair.

"Did you fight your way to the top?" Leah asked, although she knew he did. She just knew it.

"Yes."

"Are t-there…" her voice cracked. "… other f-females?"

He blinked. His eyes softened. "Are you alone?" he whispered to her.

She just nodded. Her eyes shone.

"Oh, chere…" His heart ached for her. It was right there in his voice. "Yes. Many of them. My second is a female."

Her eyes closed. Her body sagged a little, almost like she was going to faint. Alcide grabbed her. He hugged her to him. One hand under her hair, the other across her back.

Sam was shocked. He didn't know it had mattered to her so much. He was so stupid. He had mishandled the whole thing. He had never thought to find other females for her. If he admitted it to himself; he wanted her around. He didn't want to let her go. He didn't want her to find another male. He even chased off the guys in the pack if they showed any interest in her.

And then this perfect specimen just walked in the door.

Alcide whispered into her ear; too low for Sam to hear. "Sam reeks of frustration."

"We…" she started to say, but she can't tell him. She just shook her head. She pushed against his arms, trying to stand on her own two feet. He had biceps like tree trunks, she noticed. He let her go, keeping a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Tonight. Dinner. We can meet here or do you want me to pick you up?" he asked her intently. She noticed he wasn't asking if she wanted to go or not. 'No' was not an option he gave her.

"I…" she looked ashamed. "I have nothing to wear," she admitted. The look was odd on her face.

Alcide looked surprised. "You could wear rags and still be the most beautiful woman in the room."

"I **do** wear rags."

That statement actually hurt Sam's heart. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her wear anything halfway decent. She hated the clothing gifts from the Cullens and refused to wear them. The smell. And the principle.

"All right then… lunch tomorrow. I'll buy you something to wear. In Port Angeles or Seattle if you want."

Sam made another helpless noise.

"Buy me…" she started to say.

"Please don't be offended," Alcide interrupted her. He almost looked embarrassed now. He grabbed her hand and held it between both of his, level with her waist. His voice dropped again. "You are such a powerful female. I want to honour you; I want to give you something…. Something that will make you happy… you tell me what it is and I'll get it for you." He looked so serious. So earnest.

_Renesmee dead, she thought._

She shocked herself; the forbidden thought. She almost asked for it. Jake was never hers either; she had just hoped that he might be. Waste? Now **that** was a waste. Jacob Black imprinted on a vampire child was a fucking crime.

This wolf… he had potential; **lots** of potential. And he was clearly making her an offer. But Leah didn't want to buy a car without taking it for a test drive.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him; changing the subject and giving herself a chance to think. He muddled her senses.

"Business. I'm in surveying… construction. I'm sourcing timber," he stated.

"How long are you in town?"

"My business is complete. But I can stay. It's _my_ business."

"Yours?"

"I own it."

"You own a business?" she checked.

Sam interrupted again; he couldn't stand it any more. "Christ, Leah. Why don't you check his teeth?"

Alcide almost growled at him, his top lip lifted.

Leah stopped him with a pat on the arm. She finally looked at Sam; she had not even glanced at him up till then. She smiled sweetly at Sam. It was deceptive.

"I was thinking of just fucking him, actually Sam."

Alcide chuckled. He was still holding her hand.

Sam ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He couldn't tell her what to do. It crossed his mind to call Jake. Except that Jake would not interfere either, he just knew it.

"Are you done here?" Leah asked Alcide.

"Yes."

"Good." She hooked her arm though his. He threw some cash on the table.

And they left.

Together.

Sam drank the rest of the pitcher before he worked up the courage to go home.

FF_2154210_ - 14/08/2011 03:43:00 PM


	3. Community service

**3. Community service**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide opened the door of the bar for her. They walked out the front of the building. It was set up in a classic colonial looking building. Quil must have chosen the meeting place, Leah guessed. It was definitely his style. Sam would have been more comfortable somewhere a little less hip and trendy like Bar R a couple of blocks away. Bar N9ne, where Quil had set up the meeting, had a face book page and bands, halfway decent ones. It was not Sam's idea of a bar. A circular pathway curled up to the front door from the street parking; forming two arcs of path across plain mown grass.<p>

"Car?" she asked him.

"I walked. I thought I might be drinking."

They started down the curving pathway together. She took note of the easy way he moved, like all shifters. As if he had extra muscles or bones or something. He was a very impressive man.

She kept walking with him although she really hadn't decided if she was going to fuck him or not. She was just skull fucking with Sam; messing with him had become such a habit she found it hard to break. She shoved her hands into her jeans pockets.

But then Alcide said something that caught her off guard.

"When was the last time you had sex?" he asked completely out of the blue. "You smell … unsatisfied." He sounded like he had thought about the choice of word.

And for some reason she could not fathom, she was honest with him. If he could smell her dissatisfaction; he could probably smell her lie, she assumed. "Almost three years."

"Oh chere, that's too long." He gave her a look. "I'll do it for you as a community service," he offered.

"How altruistic of you," she snarked.

"Oh, I'm all about philanthropy," he purred at her.

"I am sure you are."

"I'm a pillar of the community."

She glanced at his groin. "You're a pillar of something."

He didn't apologise. "You smell good," he stated.

They had reached the street by now and he turned to the left. She kept pace with him and followed.

"What are you _really_ doing here?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked disingenuously.

"You don't send the boss to buy timber."

He chuckled. "Smart too, huh?"

She shrugged.

"I'm scouting for business purchases. If we can provide our own timber, we will increase our profit margin. There is still a lot of reconstruction needed in the south. But the building industry is tight at the minute with the down turn in the housing trade. We can move into a different area of the industry."

"People like new houses," she stated.

"Do you?"

"No." That surprised her. She hadn't actually thought about it before. "I like history… you know. New stuff with chrome and glass is ugly. Who was it that decided that black leather and chrome was masculine anyway?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Men... real men," she corrected herself, "Don't have offices like that."

"Huh. You're right." He paused. "Lawyers," he added.

"Yeah. **They** have offices like that. "But _men_… who have trucks…" She waved a hand at him. "I'm betting you own a truck"

He grinned at her. "New model, with all the trimmings …and a hard hat."

"Oooohhh," she squealed artificially.

He snorted.

"Where are we going?" she asked suddenly.

"My hotel."

Silence.

"A Community service," he reminded her.

She was suddenly nervous. She was all brash and clever; her brusque exterior. And her need to mess with Sam. But Alcide had actually taken her at her word.

He clearly picked up on her doubt now. "You did mean it?" he checked. "You want to… bed me?"

She chuckled at his use of the old fashioned term. "Or forest you…" she admitted.

"Would you be more comfortable there?"

She thought about it. "I don't know…" she admitted.

"I'm flexible…" he suggested.

She snorted. Quil would have made one of those 'that's what she said' jokes about now. She heard it in her head.

"I mean …" he rolled his eyes. "… I'm happy either way." He looked suddenly lascivious. "As long as I get **you**," he purred at her.

She needed to change the subject and quickly. "Where are you staying?" Maybe that was still too close to the subject. Hotels implied rooms and rooms had beds.

"The Red Lion hotel."

Typical. It was a waterfront hotel. Not five stars, but then nowhere was in Port Angeles. It did have an international airport but it was proximity not volume or popularity that made it so. The hotel looked out over the ferry terminal; the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia.

Every time it crossed her mind to just leave, she would get a whiff of his scent. And she found her feet obediently following his across the car park and towards his hotel. She decided to try walking in front of him, to see if the onshore breeze would blow his scent away, but it back fired spectacularly because now he was right behind her and she was so completely aware of his big, warm body following her.

It was only about 600m from the bar to his hotel and it didn't take them long to walk that far. Jogging easily across the road to avoid any traffic.

She was getting closer to his hotel. If she was going to do anything, it had to be now. She stopped suddenly. He nearly walked into the back of her. He grabbed her at the top of her arms to avoid knocking her down.

She turned to face him. "I…" she started to say.

"Shhh," his hands rubbed up and down the tops of her arms.

She was going to say 'no'; she was going to thank him and run. Run like she always did from things she couldn't handle. She opened her mouth to say all of that but his big hands cradled her face. He tilted her head up a little and she looked into his eyes.

They were such a beautiful shade of green. Green. Like the forest.

Green eyes and black hair. So unusual. And those green eyes were looking down at her as he hauled her face up to his and he kissed her.

He was big, powerful, and strong. And he was hard everywhere she touched him… but he kissed soft. She had never kissed a man with a beard before.

She felt an ache under her jaw and she made some small wounded noise in the back of her throat. He kept kissing her. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

His head drew back, he ducked down a little and he scooped her up in his arms. He carried her like she would have picked up a small child; one arm behind her head and the other behind her knees. Her feet hung over his hip and her body was pressed flat against his chest. He just scooped her up and jogged across the car park and up the stairs.

She tried to make a noise but her face was pressed in against his chest and he was all she could smell. Her inner wolf was very pleased to have a dominant male in sniffing distance. Especially one she hadn't rejected before. Or that hadn't rejected _her_.

Her wolf was an alpha female and both alpha males were mated pairs. And that left her… where…? Lone wolves were always male. She would never survive without a pack.

He kept making soft, crooning noises at her and she suddenly realised she was crying. Talk about a mood killer. He still seemed intent on taking her to his room, although she didn't see how it could be romantic at all now.

She. Leah Clearwater. Leah Fucking Clearwater was sobbing as if her heart was broken. She supposed it kind of was.

He was at the door of his room now; he juggled her a little and in the end, he spoke to her, "Hang on chere." She obediently slung her arms around his neck and hung on, as instructed. Supporting herself enough for him to get the key. He fiddled in his pocket and found his room key, sliding the card into the lock. With a click, he opened the door and let it bang shut behind him. He pushed across the privacy bar and carried her to the bed.

He sat on the edge of the bed with her still held across his lap. He crooned and rocked her a little and he stroked his big fingers through her short hair. And she just cried. In the end he shrugged out of his shirt and gave it to her to use as a handkerchief. It was clearly one of his favourite shirts and it was a soft flannel; made softer by repeated washings. She buried her face in it. It smelt like him.

He stood up and laid her on her side in the middle of the bed, facing the windows and the sea. He pulled off her shoes and tossed them onto the floor. He took off his own boots, emptied his pockets of keys, wallet and cell onto the side table. He went to the bathroom, turned off the room lights, and then he climbed onto the bed and spooned her from behind. He wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his shirt.

Wrapped in his arms she was warm enough. Eventually she cried herself to sleep.

FF_2154210_ - 15/08/2011 03:50:00 AM


	4. A heart to heart

**4. A heart to heart**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Leah woke up feeling like a piece of shit. Her eyes were crusted and sore; her mouth was dry. Her nose was blocked and she could tell from the furriness of her mouth that she must have been breathing through her mouth instead. God! She had probably snored.<p>

It took her a couple of minutes to work out where the hell she was.

It took her a couple more minutes to remember why she was clutching a damp flannel checked shirt. She could hear breathing behind her and an arm was around her waist. It held her loosely.

Alcide. Now, she remembered.

She suppressed a groan. She shuffled herself across the bedspread towards the window and off the edge of the bed, letting his arm fall onto the bed. She stood and looked down at the man asleep on the bed. She sat down in one of the armchairs and watched him sleep.

What was she going to do? It was the middle of the night. She felt like shit. And she had ruined everything by sobbing all over him. She wanted to run and hide and pray she didn't see him again before he left town. Maybe ever.

But then she thought about her unexpected confession to him that she hadn't had sex in almost three years. And she wanted to. God did she want to. She and her inner wolf agreed on that. Alcide ticked all the boxes for them both.

And he seemed to be a nice guy. He hadn't chucked her out; he hadn't forced her into anything. He had held her and he had let her cry.

She felt like she owed him an explanation, if nothing else.

Sam.

That _was_ her explanation. In one word. It was just that simple.

She sighed heavily. He shifted on the bed a little as if he missed her.

She would have a shower. That would make her feel better and wash some of the shit on her face off. She would feel like a new woman.

And then she would see.

So she did that. Hotels never ran out of hot water, even if it wasn't as hot as she would have liked. It did have a towelling gown hanging on the back of the door too. She slipped it on, tied it around her waist and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked much better. Definitely more human. She found one of those crappy complimentary toothbrushes as well; she used it, it was better than nothing.

She towelled her hair dry and opened the door gingerly.

He was awake. The TV was on, without the sound. He was leaning back against the headboard with a mound of pillows behind him. He gave her a small smile when she crept out of the bathroom. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded. She approached him. The bed was so wide; she could avoid him if she needed to.

He watched her carefully. He frowned a little. "You okay?"

She nodded again.

"Help yourself." He waved at the fridge and the mini bar.

She checked and he already had a drink, so she got herself a soda. she sat carefully next to him on the edge of the bed. She sipped at her drink.

He didn't try to touch her.

She didn't know how to start. She picked at the towelling robe where it covered her thigh.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"I think you needed that."

"Yes… maybe… but…"

"It's okay, Leah. Don't stress yourself."

"I… you…"

"Leah… give it up."

"But…"

"Look if you want to talk to me… talk." He gave her a penetrating look. "I think you need to do that too."

She kept picking at the robe. Staring at her hand as her fingers pulled at the tiny threads.

He reached across and gently pressed his hand over hers; stopping her. His hand slid up her arm to her wrist and he gave her the gentlest of tugs. She shifted a little.

"Come on," he encouraged, still holding her wrist. She put her drink down on the side table.

He tugged her until she climbed onto the bed next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in against his chest. She took in a breath to speak but got another whiff of his scent. Damn. He smelt fine.

She tucked herself in under his arm; her face on his chest. The arm around her shoulder hugged her in to him and his other hand reached across and played with her still damp hair.

He made a small satisfied noise. "There," he said, as if he was pleased with her position.

There was a pause.

"Now, you don't have to look at my face… you can just lie here and talk to me… tell me what you need to tell me… and I promise to listen… and not to interrupt…"

She let out a gust of air.

Silence.

"So…" he prompted. "You're the only female and you don't have a mate… or even a boyfriend,"

"Yeah." One word.

"So…?"

The light in the room flashed and changed from the TV screen. A few silent minutes passed.

She glanced at the screen. "Are you watching the football or listening?"

"Well if you're _not_ talking…"

"Fine," she huffed.

More silence.

"Sam was your last boyfriend?" he guessed; prompting her again.

"Y-yes."

"Aah." A pause. "But he has a mate?"

"Yes."

"Who's not a wolf?"

"No."

Silence.

He poked her in the side with a finger. She squirmed.

"Talk!" he ordered.

"March 2005," she blurted out. "Sam went weird." Pause. "He disappeared… gone… for weeks… I didn't know what had happened…"

"You were together?"

"Engaged. Kind of."

"He shifted?"

"Yeah. But he was the first in a long time… three generations… and it took him a while to get back."

"He did it alone?"

"Yeah. Alone."

"Ouch. No wonder he was gone for weeks."

"But he couldn't tell me. The tribal rules said it was to be kept a secret. I mean I don't think there is a problem with telling you. Considering you're a wolf and all."

"Good… so?"

"So… he lied about where he had been and what he had been doing."

Alcide made a hissing noise. "Ouch."

"I didn't believe that he was telling me the truth and … we had some problems because of that… my cousin came to visit me. For girl support… they met and…" She made a kind of shrug movement. But her whole body was tight.

He waited for her. He stroked her hair.

She let out a big breath. Then she could speak. "Our pack has this… thing… imprinting. You see someone the first time after you have phased and whammo… _love_." The bitterness was obvious in her voice. "Like fucking baby ducks imprinting on the first thing they see."

A pause.

"She was my cousin and my best friend."

He hugged her a little closer.

She rubbed angrily at her face. She had cried enough over this.

"I was angry," she admitted. "Really angry. I didn't understand and no one would tell me the truth about the wolves." She put a hand on his chest. "Then, a year later… March 16th 2006 I turned into a wolf… and it was worse."

"Worse?" he prompted.

"Our pack has a shared mind, when we are phased. We think of something and the whole pack can see it, feel it, smell it…"

"Oh dear God." He hugged her closer. "Sam's mind. You could see into his mind and he into yours, I suppose."

She pressed her face into his t-shirt. She just nodded.

He pressed his lips against her forehead.

"You remember the date?" he asked tentatively.

It was the day she killed her father, but he hadn't earned that knowledge yet. "Yes," was all she said.

"We don't have a shared mind… I can see how it would be useful in a battle but… yeah…" He frowned, as if he was thinking about it. "Could be problematic…"

"Some images, you just don't need to share with others," she stated.

"Is that why you haven't… you know… had sex?"

She rubbed at his chest nervously. "Imagine… bad enough if I do it with a normal person, but with another pack member… it would be on endless repeat…ugh." She shuddered.

"They're young," he guessed. He remembered his thoughts when he had met Quil in the hardware store; that he had aged too quickly.

"Young? Sam's the eldest and he's 22. Jake only turned 18 in January."

"Jake?"

"My pack leader… my alpha. I changed packs as soon as I could, to get away from Sam."

"So they've been wolves for less than three years…"

"Some only changed four months ago. And it was all new to us… the last wolf pack was three generations ago. All we had were songs and stories. Nobody had any clue what we were doing." She paused. "Other than killing vampires. We're very good at that."

He laughed. It was a deep, pleasant sound. She looked quizzical.

"In my world," he explained. "Vampires have a lot of power and influence. I would so wish for a world in which I could just tear them to pieces." He grinned at her. It showed, just for a second, his dual nature; the animal within. He really did look like he could tear something apart.

Her inner wolf purred.

And Alcide seemed to hear it somehow. His eyes changed and he looked at her with a completely different look.

She blinked.

His arm was still around her back and his other hand lifted and stroked down her cheek. His eyes flicked down to her lips. "Now…" he hummed. "Where were we…?"

FF_2154210_ - 15/08/2011 04:13:00 AM


	5. Touch

**5. Touch**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>"Now…" Alcide hummed. "Where were we…?"<p>

His thumb rubbed very gently across her bottom lip. Her lips parted a little.

She felt oddly out of control; she didn't know this guy; she had met him hours ago; she didn't know what to do with him.

But he knew what to do with her.

His big rough hand slid from her lips, across her face and down the side of her neck. It pushed its way under the neck of the towelling gown. Rubbing across the skin of her shoulder.

She shivered at his touch.

Touch.

Nobody touched her anymore. An occasional hug from Seth or her Mum. And that was it. That was all she got.

Those rough fingers rubbed gently across her skin. He pushed the gown off her shoulder. He curled up in a kind of stomach crunch and brushed his lips across the skin of her now, exposed shoulder. He kept making a low humming noise; it was wordless but oddly comforting. He brushed his beard across her skin and she shivered again. She could feel his warmth breath as it gusted across her flesh. He had pushed up on his other hand and supported his body on that arm.

He pushed at the gown again. She reached down and helpfully undid the waist tie for him. She was naked underneath after her shower. It pushed easily down her upper arm now. He followed it down her arm with kisses. It exposed her breast as it fell open.

His hum of comfort changed into one of appreciation.

His lips made their way back up her arm and across to her breast. She shivered again. Her nipple peaked with the excitement and the exposure. He cupped his hand under her breast and it sat heavily in his warm palm.

"Oh Chere," he mumbled and then his lips closed around her nipple. That first suck threw her head back and she let out a noise of her own. She fell backwards and he followed her down. His hand at her back supported her as he lowered her gently to the mattress. And now he crouched above her; his mouth still working at that nipple.

His other hand slid inside the gown and unwrapped her body. Her arm was caught in the sleeve and her body lay on the back of the gown. It pushed her back up and shoved her breast further forward into his face. His hand closed around the other breast and he squeezed a little. She let out another noise.

She squirmed. She wanted her hands out. He lifted her effortlessly up a little from the mattress and she pulled her arms out of the gown sleeves. She wrapped those arms around his head and pulled him in closer to her chest.

He opened his mouth and sucked hard as if he was trying to get her whole breast into his mouth. She wriggled under him.

She pulled at the t-shirt on his back.

"Too many clothes," she told him in a desperate whisper.

He released her breast. He chuckled. He sat back on his haunches and reached down his back with his hands and ripped his t-shirt over his head. It slipped down his arms and he dropped it on the floor somewhere. A chain he had around his neck, dropped back down between his pecs.

Holy fuck! She thought he was magnificent. And he kind of knew how impressive he was. He sat and patiently waited for her to finish admiring him. She pushed herself up a little on her elbows. She managed to shut her mouth before any drool fell out. He had an eight pack; maybe even a ten.

"And the jeans," she ordered.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "When I'm ready," he rumbled at her. This was no puppy that she could order around. His eyes narrowed at her and he dropped to his hands and crawled over her body. She fell back onto the mattress under him.

He was in a dominant position; standing over her and studying her naked body. She almost quivered.

He dropped his face down to her and kissed her. Her arms wound around his neck and pulled him in against her. She didn't know what she wanted first.

"Shhh," he muttered. "We'll get there, chere… just take it slow… hmmm?"

She wanted everything and she wanted it now. But he was determined not be hurried. He was implacable.

He rubbed the beard of his face all over her stomach and then he worked his way lower. She was making all kinds of noises before he even got there. She couldn't hurry him, but she also couldn't stop him. And with his slow, relentless approach she was going to lose it big time.

"Leah, you have to be quiet," he begged her. "You'll do wonders to half my reputation and destroy the other half at the same time, if I get thrown out of the hotel in the middle of the night."

"I'll try…" she offered. She looked chastised.

He looked mildly concerned. "Maybe we should have gone to the forest… but…"

"But what?" she queried.

"Your… need… it was too much."

"You said that, but how can you tell?"

"It… calls to me…" he shrugged as if he didn't know how else to explain it.

"Oh…" She was giving off desperate wolf girl vibes. Good to know. He settled himself back between her legs. He still had his jeans on, she noticed. He shuffled down a little.

"I'll just bet that you've been…" he kissed her navel, "…a very unhappy…" another kiss and another shuffle down, "… woman…" a lick, "…for a very long time."

She made a noise. It was an odd combination of excitement and nerves and it sounded closest to a whimper.

His big hands held her still at the side of her ribs and he held his face over her mound.

"Oh yeah…" he hummed in agreement. "So you just let me take care of that for you," he suggested.

And he dropped his face into her centre.

She fell apart moments later. She couldn't believe just how fast she fell apart. She rationalised that it was the beard. She can't have been **that** desperate… could she?

He buried his face in her. And he fed at her secret parts. Licking, kissing, sucking and nibbling at her. His tongue was very long and very talented. He held her onto his face and lifted her body off the bed.

He ended up sitting on his haunches, holding his hands at her hips. The backs of her thighs were on his shoulders and her feet hung down his back. He had pulled her up so that her shoulders and the back of her neck were on the bed, and the rest of her was hanging in the air. Held securely in his big hands.

She was biting her own hand to keep herself quiet. Her other hand was flailing in the air trying to hold onto something and in the end she clawed at his jean clad thigh where it lay under her body.

She twisted and arched. She kicked him on the back at least once that she knew of. He grunted into her and kept right on going. She came… she didn't know how many times she came. She eventually let out a wail that made him lift his head and drop her body back onto the bed. She was panting. She was actually out of breath. For her; that was really unusual. Her limbs splayed out where he had dropped her.

"Shhh, chere," he reminded her.

She was a mess and he hadn't even got to the main course, yet.

He went to the bathroom. She assumed it was to wash his face. She was kind of glad for the break. She needed to get her breath back.

He walked back and stood looking down at her, rubbing his face with a towel. "Better?" he asked. He reached over and turned off the television.

She just nodded. She held a hand out to him; she wanted all of him.

He threw the towel aside. And reached for the front of his jeans. He shimmied out of them and she forgot how to breathe. He was wearing what looked like bikini briefs with just a waistband. They were small and black and they were straining at the front.

"Is that a thong?" she choked out. It was officially the last thing she had thought he would be wearing. He turned around for her obligingly. Oh my God. He looked back at her over his shoulder.

"You approve?"

"Jesus," she breathed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

She noticed a mark on his right butt cheek. "Is that a bunny?" she asked.

He laughed. "It's a birthmark, but it does look like a rabbit." He looked at her. "Condoms?" he asked.

"We're disease free and disease resistant. If Paul never caught anything …" she shrugged. She didn't mention birth control. He probably assumed she had that covered. She was barren; it was not an issue for her.

"Cool. Bareback." He almost leered at her. "You okay with that?"

"Oh yes," she breathed at him.

He reached for the briefs but she stopped him. "I want to peel those off with my teeth," she purred at him.

He gave her a look that would have raised her body temperature if it could have gone any higher without killing her. "Another time, chere. Right now… if I don't get inside you… I'm going to…" he shook his head as if he couldn't find the words.

"You make me hurt," he finished.

She wasn't sure what to say to that. So she let him undress himself. His cock sprang clear and she took another breath. Oh, she was **so** going to have a good time. She moved on the bed and realised that she was still lying on the coverlet. She wanted to feel Alcide on clean, crisp hotel sheets.

She rolled off quickly and started to strip the bed. He got the idea and did the other half, tossing pillows randomly. They flung back the coverlet off the end of the bed.

She was so nervous her fingers fumbled at the tightly tucked sheet edge but eventually she got a hand under it too. She met him in the centre and they crashed into each other.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: in the last Sookie book, Charlaine Harris had Alcide in what she called a 'mankini'; i think she might have meant a thong... I understood a mankini to be what Borat wears... *ugh* shudder... <strong>

FF_2154210_ - 17/08/2011 08:54:00 PM


	6. Strangers in the night

**6. Strangers in the night**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>He felt amazing to her. So hard and muscled and warm. And he smelt like a man. He smelt like Tide detergent and Irish spring soap and man.<p>

And he smelt like wolf too. Powerful and male.

She pressed herself up against him. They kissed. Her desperation was creeping in again and he bound her up in his arms and held her tight against his muscled body. It calmed her, the weight; the inability to move.

She could feel his cock; much hotter than the rest of him and pressed up against her stomach between them. She didn't want it there, she wanted it inside her. In fact, it was all she could think about. Her heart rate started to increase, her mouth went dry. She was starting to panic.

And he knew it. He crooned to her. He held her tighter.

"Please…" she almost sobbed it.

"Oh chere," he whispered to her. "How could they have let you get to this stage?"

He didn't expect an answer and she didn't give him one. She clung to him, pressing her face against his skin.

He shifted his body, taking her with him. He laid her down with her head on the pillows. And he covered her body with the weight of his.

She let out a sigh. Her anguish diminished. He just lay there, waiting for her to calm down she supposed. She ran her hands all over the skin of his back. Her nipples felt so hard, they pressed against him.

He shuffled down a little so that their faces aligned and he held her head in both hands and he kissed her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," she replied.

She could see something in his eyes; he looked concerned, worried for her.

"Don't fight me," he requested her.

She frowned. She thought about what he was saying. She guessed that if her inner wolf didn't like him being dominant, it could get violent. Especially if it hurt. It had been so long and she was so tense; she felt tighter than a virgin. He might have to force his way in.

"She likes you," she told him.

"Pardon?"

"My inner wolf. She likes you. She won't attack you."

"Okay." But he didn't sound convinced.

"Please Alcide… please…" she begged. "Just…. Do it." she could feel herself getting upset again. She lifted a leg and wound it around him; pressing her groin into him.

"All right… all right," he crooned. He reached down and held himself, positioning it. She could feel the blunt head pressing against her. He started a careful rocking motion. He didn't try to force himself into her. He pushed against her… another push and then another and then something gave a little and he dipped inside her.

"Oh…" she moaned and then she tensed up again. She knew he had prepared her as well as he could, but she was still too tense.

"Relax…Leah," he encouraged. "Come on… I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm okay," she answered, but her voice sounded small and wounded and so unlike her.

"You will be…" another push. "Soon…"

She tried to relax. She tried to breathe slowly and evenly and she tried to help; not lie there as stiff as a board. The next push forward from him, she pushed back. He sank in a little further. They both made a noise. The slightly larger head was fully inside her now.

He made another shoving movement.

He reached a hand to the back of her neck and he pulled her onto his face. He kissed her harder now. He shoved again. She clutched at his arms. She fought herself, not to fight him. Her back arched under him and she tore her mouth away from his; she couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe.

She panted a little. He pressed at the back of her neck with his hand; holding her steady.

Then with a final couple of movements he worked his way all the way inside her. He was in to the hilt. He stopped. They were both panting now.

"Oh, oh, oh," she muttered in little cries. He was bigger than she had experienced before and it had been _**so**_ long.

"Shhh, you're good. I've got you," he crooned.

He lifted himself off her a little, withdrawing from her a touch. His hand grabbed her at the hip bone, holding her in place and keeping her steady as he slid back in.

"Oooh," she groaned.

He did it again.

And again.

And again.

His hand slid down her raised thigh, she lifted it against him and he held her under the buttock and pulled her onto him. She grabbed him around the shoulders.

"Oh yes…" she breathed.

The next stroke her head rocked back and she grunted.

She could feel her heart racing again, but it wasn't a fear reaction this time.

He was hitting her firmly; but not hard enough to hurt. It was a symphony of control. He knew what he was doing. She was making almost continuous noise now.

He reached down and pressed unerringly on her clitoris with his thumb. He didn't stroke, just pressed down and she went off. He had done enough preparation earlier with his mouth. She orgasmed, clenching around his cock and clutching at him with her hands. He made a noise of his own and he came inside her.

She took a couple of gasping breaths and then she burst into tears.

He rolled onto his side, taking her with him. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.

"Why am I crying?" she wailed.

"Relief?" he suggested. "I'm assuming it's not because I'm bad in bed."

"No," she wailed. "You were great…"

"Oh Leah," he chuckled. "The next one will be better…"

"Next one?" she asked.

"Yeah… might take a couple of goes to get you back into your stride…"

"Oh." She wasn't sure how to deal with that.

"So you're okay? And your wolf? She's okay too?" he checked.

"Mmmf," she agreed. "I told you, she likes you."

He chuckled. "I'm glad." He snugged her in against him and kissed her forehead. He rubbed her back until the tears stopped.

"So what do you like?" he asked. He shifted around and sat up with his back against the head board.

She watched him. "What do I like?"

"In bed… you know?"

She shrugged noncommittally. She reached for her soda from the side table. She took a sip; it was warm now. "Ugh, warm soda." She got up to go pour it down the sink. He watched her cross the room as he sat leaning against the head board. She seemed to have forgotten she was naked. He had a frown of concentration on his face. He heard her in the bathroom, flushing the toilet and drinking from the tap.

When she came out again, she was wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. He was still watching her.

"What?" she asked belligerently, catching his intent gaze.

"Come here," he growled at her.

She blinked.

"**Now**!" he ordered.

She was there before she had stopped to think about it. He grabbed her as she climbed up onto the bed. He was hard again. He pulled her into his lap, dropping his knees to the side so that she sat on his thighs. His urgency got to her and she found herself eagerly going where he pushed her. He shifted down the bed away from the headboard and gave her room to wrap her legs around behind him.

She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. His tongue plunged into her mouth at the same time that his cock plunged into her. Her eyes closed and she groaned into his mouth.

He kissed down her neck, his beard brushing against her skin.

"Oh, that's better," he muttered. He seemed to lose some of his urgency, now he was inside her.

She thought it was better too. He was so deep inside her in this position. She felt so full. His hands slid down her back and rested at the top of her buttocks and he pushed her gently. She got the idea. She took up a rocking motion in time with his hands.

"What's got into you?" she asked as she rocked.

"You," he answered simply. "Naked."

She almost glowed. All she had done was casually walk across a room naked and he wanted her. She hadn't put any booty swing into it or tried to be seductive or anything. It crossed her mind to wonder how he would react if she did try to be seductive.

"Yeah?" she checked.

"You're gorgeous," he told her intently.

She smiled at him as she rocked onto him. His hands were everywhere. Stroking and rubbing the skin of her back. She felt like purring.

He reached up and grabbed her at the shoulders. He pulled her down hard and ground himself up into her. She gasped a little. His hands released her but slid down to pinch and twist her nipples. Occasionally he shifted her so that he could suck on her breasts.

The slow, sensual rocking continued until she started to get more wound up. She shifted her pelvis, changing the way his hard length pressed against her. When she pushed herself down, he pressed on her clitoris.

"Ohhh," she moaned.

He lifted his knees and he pressed harder against her.

"Oh yes," she muttered.

"Like that?" he asked, still rocking into her.

"Y-Yes…" She suddenly fell over that edge; she gave a whole body shiver and she moaned. She clutched at him with her internal muscles. He watched her intently. She fell onto his mouth, kissing him hard and eating at his mouth. She wound her arms around his head and pulled him in as close as she could.

When she drew back for breath, she realised he was still hard within her.

"My turn," he breathed. He lifted her, sliding his cock out of her. She groaned, it sounded almost like she was complaining. "On your knees," he told her in a low growl. She rushed to comply.

He moved behind her, grabbed her at her hips and slammed back into her. She grunted loudly. The neighbours banged on the wall.

"Shhh," he reminded her as he thrust into her.

"I'm not the one slamming the bed into the wall," she pointed out to him with a snort.

"Okay then, we ought to move." He pulled her after him as he got down on the carpet. She was eager for him to get back inside her and she made a pleased noise when he slid back into her. "Happy now?" he asked her.

"Oh God…. Yes… you feel amazing… " she moaned.

"Amazing?" he repeated.

"Oh yeah…"

Her chest dropped and she supported herself on her elbows and lower arms, her fingers clenching into the carpet as he rammed himself into her. He kept it up, reaching under her to stroke through her saturated folds and keeping her at the edge of her orgasm, without actually letting her come again.

She had reached the wordless stage when he grabbed at the back of her neck with one of his big hands and forced her face down to the carpet, lifting her ass further into the air. She tried to growl at him but he just overpowered her. Her wolf rumbled happily. She liked this male.

The hotel guests on the other side banged on the wall.

Alcide ignored them. He slammed himself into Leah hard enough to hurt a normal girl. But he knew she wasn't. They crashed together making a wet sounding noise. He lifted his hips into her and she wailed. He was still holding her down so her body couldn't lift when his did. He pressed up on all kinds of places inside her. He could feel his balls slapping into her.

He increased the pace, keeping the strokes fast and short now. He knew he was nearly done.

"Like that, Leah?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes…" she wailed. "Oh yes."

He didn't know why he was still holding her down. He knew she wouldn't move; he _knew_ she wouldn't fight him. But he liked it. It turned him on.

"Leah," he groaned. He made a couple more thrusts and then he slammed into her and stayed there. He could feel his cock twitch inside her as he filled her with his heated ejaculate. "Leah…" he repeated in another low groan that sounded like a growl.

He collapsed on top of her, flattening her into the carpet below him. He could not have moved if he wanted to. They lay there panting. He realised at some point that his weight was crushing her; she was taking little small breaths under him. He lifted himself up and heard her gasp in a full breath.

"Oh my God," she whispered.

He chuckled. He propped himself up on his hands and knees and lifted her up. "Back to bed?" he asked.

"Oh my God," she repeated.

"Is that all you can say?" he asked.

"Give me a minute."

He pressed his face in against her neck. She smelt better… but still not quite there.

He lifted her against him and manhandled her back into bed. She was pliant. He laid her head on the pillow and tucked himself in behind her.

He took a deep inhale of her scent. It was like a biological imperative. He was half hard again within minutes, just from her need. Taking advantage of her compliance he lifted her leg a little and slid his cock back inside her. She made a noise but didn't complain. He slid his hand under her head and plastered her up against him.

FF_2154210_ - 15/08/2011 04:40:00 AM


	7. The wolf jiz solution

**7. The wolf jiz solution**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: yeah, I know… the chapter title sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel…the osterman weekend; the bourne identity, the wolf jiz solution<strong>_

He was spooning her again, like he had when she was crying, with some huge differences: this time they were both naked and his cock was sunk deep inside her. His bicep was her pillow and his other hand stroked across the skin of her stomach.

"Mmmm," she hummed. She was half asleep. She was thinking that Alcide was no fumbling teenage boy. She had never been so well looked after.

He pressed his nose into her neck again. "You smell better already," he announced.

"Pfftt," she snorted. "Are you seriously suggesting that just filling me with wolf jiz is going to fix me?"

"Do you need fixing?" he asked.

"Answer the question."

"Yes, I think it will."

She tried to twist to face him.

"Stay there… I'm not finished with you yet," he ordered. "And you didn't answer **my** question."

Oh God, on both counts. She tried to twist again but he bit her earlobe. Ear biting was standard punishment from the alpha in wolf form and she went limp on the bed. "Fuck!" she swore as her body betrayed her.

"Oh now," he crowed as if he hadn't quite expected her to react like that. He hadn't, he was not her alpha, or her pack-master. "That was interesting." He pulled his arm out from under her head and leaned over her a little, raised up on his elbow. "What happens when I bite you other places?" he asked her.

"Fucked if I know," she growled at him. But she didn't try moving again.

"Wanna find out?" he stroked the back of her neck. She squirmed.

He lifted his hips into her and the squirm turned into a gasp.

"Jesus! Are you hard again?" She realised she had never fucked another wolf before; maybe this was standard for them. No wonder their imprints were always so fucking happy. Now she thought about it, she did remember a story about how Jared had fucked Kim unconscious one night. Usually she tried very hard to stay out of the other wolves' heads when they thought of their imprints.

"It's you," he hummed into her neck. "You have a positive effect on me."

"Uh-huh."

"Uh-huh," he repeated as he lifted into her once more. He lay back down behind her and slid his arm under her head again. The arm under her head folded over and held her across the collar bones. She reached up and held onto that arm. He lifted into her another time.

She moaned.

He nibbled up and down her neck. He scraped his nails up her thigh and she groaned. She reached back and sank her nails into his ass. He grunted into her ear. He continued the slow lift into her. He stroked her all over the front of her body. Pinching and playing with her nipples until they were peaked. She groaned and writhed on him. He delighted in holding her prone against him. Until he got dissatisfied and slid his arm out from under her head; she tried to turn to look at him. He lifted her top leg a little and shifted it up and across her body so that her knee almost touched the mattress. Still buried inside her he propped himself up on his arms; a hand planted on the mattress on either side of her. She was twisted, with her shoulders on the bed and the rest of her body still on her side.

He lifted into her again. He entered her almost sideways now and it was an entirely different sensation. Her eyes fluttered closed and she gasped a little.

He could lean down and kiss her and then hold himself back up at arm's length.

He stared into her eyes and she gazed back at him. He shifted achingly slowly. She could see the muscles on his chest and abdomen move as he lifted himself into her. It was a long, slow build up and when she came she reached out a hand and touched the side of his face. He pushed his face against her hand and kept watching her intently. She uttered a number of small cries. She sounded almost surprised.

He made another stroke and then leaned down and kissed her. As he finished he groaned into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to hang onto him. He pulled himself out of her; she shifted her leg and pulled him back down on top of her.

"I'll crush you," he protested.

"No, you won't," she assured him.

He allowed her to pull him down until he lay on top of her, oddly where they had started so long ago. He made a small noise and rubbed his face on her. He stayed there and she heard his breathing pattern change. It evened out and eventually she could tell that he had fallen asleep.

She clutched him to her and a tear trickled down her cheek. She blinked rapidly, biting at her bottom lip and trying to calm herself before she disturbed him.

She lay there for along time thinking about all kinds of things before she fell asleep herself.

* * *

><p>Like all Weres, he had the air-conditioning set down low, so even though they were still wrapped around each other they didn't wake in a ball of sweat. She woke at one point and saw that he had moved off her and was lying next to her. She shifted onto her side and snuggled in against his chest and went back to sleep. He shifted a little, opened an eye and pulled her in closer to him, before falling back to sleep himself.<p>

Alcide woke with the sun. He looked down at the sleeping woman he was tangled up in. Their legs were wound around each other. One of them had pulled the sheet up during the night. She snuffled in her sleep; small lady like snores. He almost chuckled. It was so cute.

Lord he needed a shower. He had sore muscles and he could feel a couple of deep scratches. They had quite the workout together. He had no idea what time they had finally gone to sleep. He rotated his neck, hearing it crack. He watched her.

She was so beautiful. Her face was flawless. Her skin unmarked and it was such a beautiful colour. He knew women who would kill for her eyelashes. They were thick and lush. He reached down a gentle finger and brushed across the end of them with a fingertip.

"Fuck off," she mumbled at him.

He snickered. Her mouth, on the other hand… she had a foul mouth. He propped himself up on elbow and studied her.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he asked.

"I kiss **you** with this mouth," she grunted.

He chuckled. She was clever and quick too.

"I know…" he purred at her.

She shifted to lie on her back. She frowned and tried to open her eyes. She blinked a bit; rubbing at her eyes and glanced over at the windows overlooking the bay. "What the fuck time is it anyway?" she grizzled.

"Don't know." He shrugged. "Early."

"So why have you woken me up?"

He leant over her and beamed at her.

She focused on him. "Fuck! Again?"

"You're not a morning person, are you?" he questioned obviously.

"No," she barked at him.

He cupped her breast and stroked his thumb across her nipple.

"Stop that," she grumbled at him. "This has gone beyond community service you know."

"I know," he lowered his mouth to her breast to suckle at her. "Pure self interest now, chere," he managed before he sucked her nipple into his mouth.

She groaned. She shifted under him and she opened her legs. He hummed appreciatively. Her arms reached up and she ran her fingers through his tangled hair. She lifted one foot and tucked it over the back of his thigh, rubbing it back and forth.

He lifted off her a little and held himself up on his arms. "I need to be in you," he breathed at her, explaining his rush.

He reached down with one hand and guided himself into her, holding her folds apart with his fingers. She arched up onto him. He slid all the way in, in one long, hard thrust.

She thanked the Gods for quick healing; it didn't hurt at all.

She grunted. "Jesus," she swore. "You feel so hard."

"Won't last long," he cautioned her as he pulled back for another stroke.

She held his face in her hands.

"I love the colour of your eyes," she told him. She didn't mean to say that; it just came out.

He smiled at her.

"I love your eyelashes," he told her in return.

She ran her hands up and down his chest. She bit her lip before she launched into a never ending list of what she liked about him. His abs, the way he got a little M shape between his brows when he frowned, his tousled hair, how strong he was, but also how gentle, how big, how male, how good he smelt to her, how he knew what he was doing, how he had already helped her, how her self esteem was already partially healed and how she suspected that she would **never** be able to repay him.

He made a couple more long strokes into her. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist. His eyes closed. His head tilted back and his neck arched as he pushed his groin into her. She watched him avidly. He was right; he didn't last long. He thrust into her and groaned; a long guttural groan that sounded more like a growl. He kept pushing at her as if he was trying to thrust out the other side. She shoved herself back at him.

"Oh yeah…" he groaned. "Oh ye-ees."

She watched him come back to himself. He glanced down at her and smiled.

"Now that's what I call a good morning," he chuckled. But then he frowned as he realised she hadn't orgasmed.

"I'm good," she hastened to reassure him.

"Ahh, maybe…" his voice lowered to that rumbly register. "But you could be better," he told her. He tilted his head as if he was thinking. And then in a movement almost too quick for her to follow, he pulled out of her, dropped lower on her body, held her thighs apart with his hands and dropped his face into her.

She gasped. He latched onto her clitoris and sucked gently. She writhed. "Aah," she cried. He dropped his forearm across her hips and pinned her down to the bed hard. He slid two fingers of the other hand deep inside her; to knuckle depth.

She tried to squirm away from him, but he had pinned her well. Those fingers inside her curled up and pushed on the underside of her clitoris. He had unerringly found her G spot. And she lost it. No one had ever done that to her before. He sucked at her and rubbed across her clitoris with his tongue and at the same time, those two fingers flicked over the spot he had found inside.

Her hands locked around his head; twisting in his hair. She panted as if she couldn't get enough oxygen into her lungs and then she just froze. She hung there for a beat and then the air she had taken in came out in a voluble whoosh and her whole body shuddered. She curled up, lifting her shoulders off the bed and her body jerked and jumped.

He kept going.

She almost screamed. The neighbouring guests banged on the wall again. She threw herself back on the mattress and he lifted his head from her.

"Oh my God," she groaned and then she giggled. "Poor neighbours."

"Better?" he asked.

"That was afuckingmazing."

He rubbed his face on her stomach and lay there between her legs. She brushed her fingers through his hair. He looked up at her with those green eyes. Her stomach growled and saved her from saying something really stupid.

He chuckled.

"Showers and then we should hit breakfast. It's the only meal they serve here."

"And then I should head home," she suggested neutrally.

"Not yet," he said. He shuffled his body up hers until their faces were level. "I want you to stay another night."

"A-another night?"

"Yeah." He was playing with a lock of her hair. "And we will have all day too… to do things… you know."

Alcide remembered when Eric Northman had asked him to take Sookie on a date so that she could read minds and find the missing vampire Bill. He owed Eric a favour to repay his father's gambling debts. He had liked Sookie and even though they weren't involved at that stage, he had paid for her to go to his sister's beauty salon; twice. She had told him she had never been to one before. He somehow suspected that Leah was in the same boat. He wanted to do something else for her. To make her more sure of herself. A manicure and pedicure had to help? Women loved that kind of stuff and he suspected Leah never did it. And maybe he could take her out to dinner too. Although part of him was happy to keep her in the room and fuck her all night.

He could do both.

So she would need a new dress and her makeup done. He suddenly realised that she hadn't answered him about staying.

"Can you stay? Do you have duties or something?" he checked.

She lifted her chin. "Fuck that."

He grinned. "Okay then." He kissed her quickly. "And I am taking you out to dinner too."

"But… but…" she protested.

"No," he cut her off. "No discussion."

FF_2154210_ - 19/08/2011 09:45:00 PM


	8. Breakfast chat

**8. Breakfast chat**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>They showered and got dressed. All she had to wear was the jeans shorts she had on the day before. He picked up his things from the side table and checked his phone messages.<p>

"Breakfast," he announced. "And while I am at reception, I am going to book the rooms on either side when those people check out. Even if they aren't checking out, they'll be moving rooms. I don't think they got much sleep. It's a better option than us being thrown out."

"What? Don't be ridiculous. How much does a waterfront king room cost?"

"$225 a night."

She did the math. "You're going to pay $675 so you can fuck me in peace?"

"Yeah." He leered at her. "I'm gonna bounce you off the walls, chere."

"Eep. But… but…"

"You saying you aren't a thousand dollar woman?"

"No…" She shut her mouth. She had nothing. It was his money. But it hurt her to think what her mother could do with that much money.

He must have picked up some of that. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head.

"Tell me. What did I do wrong?" He embraced her and tucked her in against his chest.

She took a deep breath. "It's just… money." She shrugged.

"I didn't think of that, I'm sorry," he apologised.

"It's your money." She shrugged again. "I live on an Indian Reservation. The unemployment level is 51%. We don't have a lot of money, you know? **And** you're assuming that I'll still be here."

He gave her a look and then he smiled; a slow, satisfied smile. "You'll still be here," he stated.

They were late for breakfast; most of the other guests had eaten and gone out for the day. They helpfully ate all the buffet remains for the wait staff.

Leah watched him at the buffet. Underneath that jean clad ass, she knew there was a sexy black thong and just the thought of it made her want to have him again. He glanced up at her as if he could read her thoughts, and grinned. He raised both eyebrows at her. She smiled at him.

When he got back to the table she asked to borrow his phone.

"You don't have one?"

"Credits run out," she shrugged. He handed his over.

She dialled home.

"Hey Mum. Just thought I should let you know I am okay. I'm in Port Angeles. I had a meeting with Sam." A pause, while she listened. "Uh huh… oh, okay. I may not be home tonight either…." Another pause. "No, I'm all right… I'm good. I'm… with someone."

Alcide grinned.

"So I'll see you tomorrow. No, the credits run out. Hang on," she covered the phone with her hand. "She wants to know if she can reach me on this number. If there is an emergency."

"Sure." He told her the number and she repeated it to her mother. She always wrote things down.

"Yep that'll be fine. Okay… Love you too."

She hung up and handed it back to him.

He ate a piece of toast and watched her.

"Does she know?" he asked eventually.

"Yes. She's a tribal Elder."

He nodded. "She doesn't…?" He didn't know how to ask that.

"No. I'm the first… the only female." She sounded bitter again. "One for the record books…"

"That you are." He rubbed his foot up the inside of her calf. "So what's her name? In case she calls."

"Sue, Sue Clearwater."

"Clearwater," he repeated. He reached over and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She was staring down at her plate. His hand slid down to her neck again, his thumb stroked across her cheek.

"I like the hell out of you Leah Clearwater," he stated.

She looked up at him; surprised. "Thanks." She didn't know what else to say. She hadn't realised that she hadn't even told him her surname.

They stared at each other. She wanted to kiss him again. So she leaned across the corner of the table and she did. When her head drew back he said, "We are going to finish breakfast and then we are going back to our room."

"Our room?"

"Yes. But I like watching you eat, and I want to make sure you're satisfied. So breakfast first."

Truth was, she liked watching him eat too. He did so very neatly; with impeccable table manners; wiping at his beard with the napkin. She was secretly impressed. She tried to behave herself too and put her napkin on her lap.

They sat there in companionable silence, looking out the window at the view across the ferry terminal and the bay.

After breakfast, he stopped in at reception, got a couple of messages and chatted to the concierge for a few minutes. She waited a short distance away to give him the semblance of some privacy. The concierge was making calls. He turned, leaned on the counter and gave her an eye fuck that made her squirm. More discussion with the counter guy, who handed him something written on a piece of paper. Thanking him profusely for solving the room issue.

"Okay," Alcide announced. "Back to our room, then we go shopping, and eat lunch. I have dinner booked too and _you_ have an appointment at a beauty salon."

"A what?"

"I am buying you an outfit to wear to dinner tonight and I want you to look your best."

She made some noise of protest, but he just overrode her. "It's not negotiable."

"Humph. What makes you think I'll do that?"

"I think I've earned something… don't you?" He raised an eyebrow again.

"Yes, all right," she conceded. "But I don't see why I have to …" She stopped herself. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I'll need shoes too," she added.

"Shoes? Absolutely, can't have you barefoot." They had reached the room by that stage. "Now get your butt inside and your clothes off," he growled at her as he opened the door. The couple walking past in the corridor clearly overheard that. The woman gave the man one of those 'we should be doing that' looks.

Leah had halted in the doorway and Alcide smacked her on the ass. She would have torn the head off any wolf pack member who had tried such a thing; but him… she meekly obeyed. She scooted inside.

* * *

><p>She turned to face him as he came in the door, letting it shut behind him.<p>

"Clothes off," he insisted. "I saw that look you gave me at the buffet."

"It's the thong. It makes me nuts," she confessed. "Knowing it's under there." She waved a hand at his jeans.

He almost promised to wear thongs for her all the time, but realised luckily, before he said it, that that was a stupid thing to say. They weren't together. This was just a weekend thing.

"Yeah?" he chuckled. "Didn't you promise me something, earlier?" he suggested.

She looked blank for second and then she remembered that she had told him she wanted to peel his thong off with her teeth. She smiled at him. She took a step closer to him. He looked down at her. She was feeling so much more confident now. She circled around him; trailing her hand around his body and stopping in front of him again. He just waited; watching her intently as she silently stepped around him.

He wanted to ask her what she was thinking and he didn't know why it mattered to him.

"Shirt off," she said.

He reached down his back and pulled his tee over his head, down his arms and dropped it on the carpet. He waited. He let his arms hang at his sides; fighting the urge to grab her. She circled around him again; rubbing her hands up and down his body.

"You're a god," she muttered. "Look at you…" she sounded admiring. She ran her hands over his abs as if she was counting them by touch. He grabbed her; pulling her face up to his for a passionate kiss. He bent her over backwards a little, arching her spine and forcing her against his body.

"My turn," she gasped when he let her breathe.

She dropped to her knees in front of him. He looked so pleased, as she reached for the front of his jeans. He had a heavy belt buckle that jangled as she undid it. Leah loved blow jobs. When she and Sam first started dating, it had taken him a while to talk her into full sex. He was usually satisfied if she sucked him off and she had developed quite a taste for it.

She started undoing his jeans. He was standing so still, watching her carefully. She loosened his jeans and slid both hands down the back over his bare ass cheeks. She pushed at the jeans and they dropped to hang around his knees. She looked up at him.

Now his eager cock, still imprisoned in the thong, was right in her face. She made a happy sigh and kissed the skin of his hip, where the strap went around his hips. She nibbled at it trying to get her teeth under the strap. It was actually harder than she thought. She pulled her head back trying to slide it down, but it didn't work very well. She made a noise of frustration.

Alcide chuckled again. "Here, chere. Let me help you there." His fingers accomplished the task much quicker. His cock sprang free in front of her. It pulsed slightly with his heart rate.

She gave him a look. "In a hurry, Alcide?"

He gave an unapologetic shrug. He put his hand on her head and pushed her back towards his groin. She laughed now.

She opened her mouth and breathed heated air on him. She heard him draw in a breath. Starting at the base and keeping her tongue flat, she laved him; bathing him with her tongue. She held him steady in her hand. When she reached the bulbous head she concentrated on it; laving over the top continuously. He was contributing his own fluid now and she licked at it and slid the tip of her tongue into the slitted opening.

"Ohhh," he groaned. "Leah…"

She tilted her head back to look up at him. He ran his fingers through her hair and she closed her eyes. She held him steady with her guiding hand and slid him into her mouth. She sucked at him eagerly; working him in and out of her mouth. Each suck in, she tried to get him further inside of her mouth. She decided that smaller cocks were much easier to deep throat.

She wrapped both hands around him and stroked upwards, keeping her mouth sucking at the tip and her tongue swirling over the head. She gave him a few strokes and his hips started to lift towards her; rocking gently. She paused for a breath and then keeping her hands still and holding the skin of his cock taut, she plunged her mouth down as far as she could without gagging. He made another noise. Her head bobbed on his length and then she withdrew for another breath.

She brought her face in again close to him and now she nibbled just with her lips down the underside of him. He was swelling impossibly larger in her hands and she thought he would go soon. She nibbled back up and slid the dripping head back into her mouth.

He shifted on his feet. Almost twitching.

"Leah…" he said; it sounded like a warning.

She looked up at him and gave him a slow blink and a hum.

He had both hands in her hair at the moment. She wrapped one hand around the base again and kept sucking him into her mouth until her lips hit her own hand and his cock was pushing at the back of her throat. She could taste his salty flavour now. He was rocking forward and the hand acted as a brake for her. Her other hand held him at the back of one thigh rocking him into her as well.

She kept up the sucking, breathing through her nose. A few more strokes and she could hear his breathing get erratic. He moaned.

"Oh… oh… yes… just like that…" he muttered.

She blew out around him and then gave a forceful suck as he twitched and quivered in her hand.

"So good," he groaned. He intently fucked her mouth now. She felt the salty heat spurt into her mouth and she swallowed him down. He groaned again and made another rock forwards. Another spurt and she sucked again.

"Oh yes… oh yes…" he shivered as she kept him in her mouth. She slid up slowly still sucking gently, as he softened in her mouth. She allowed him to slide out and then she gently nipped at the sides and he twitched and groaned again.

"Oh my God, Leah."

She stayed where she was, still holding him in her hand as she stared up at him and he gazed down at her. They just paused for a minute and then he reached down and grabbed her by the top of her arms, hauling her to her feet.

"Oh, we are not finished yet," he promised her.

She was still dressed and his jeans were around his ankles. It didn't take them long to both be naked.

FF_2154210_ - 21/08/2011 03:35:00 AM


	9. Leah laughed

**9. Leah laughed**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>He picked her up bodily and threw her onto the still rumpled bed; she let out a startled squeak noise. It sounded like a complete girl noise and very unlike Leah. He followed swiftly and crouched over the top of her. She tried to squirm out from under him but he grabbed her arms and held them over her head.<p>

"You gonna fight me, tough guy?" she teased him. "You reckon you can take me?"

"I can take you," he growled at her.

She actually tried to fight him but he had her pegged. He had a much longer reach than her with his extra height and weight. He was also sitting on her thighs and that disabled her legs effectively. He had also started with her effectively pinned under him.

"Pfft," she made a disgusted noise at him. "So what are you going to do with me now, huh?"

"Gosh, I don't know…" He pretended to be thinking about it.

"You're just wasting time," she teased. "I reckon I've worn you out. I don't think you can get it up again."

"**What?"**

"I bet you can't get a hard on, big boy."

"You take that back," he growled at her.

"No."

"Leah," he rumbled warningly.

"Or… what?" she teased. "What can you do to me without a stiff dick?"

He thought about it again and then he smiled. "I could tickle you," he said. He rubbed his beard on her ribs and she squeaked.

He held her wrists imprisoned with one hand and he tickled her mercilessly, using his free hand and his beard. He couldn't remember the last time he had done anything quite so silly. She wriggled and squealed. And she laughed.

* * *

><p>Sue had told Seth that Leah had rung and that she was okay. He was concerned after her meeting with Sam. He had checked with Sam, and he had told him where the meeting had been held. He had run to Port Angeles and had tracked her scent from Bar N9ne, but lost it in the car park. He had noticed the nearby hotel and had resorted to listening outside the rooms for her voice and seeing if he could pick up her scent again. He found it on the upper walkway but it smelt a day old.<p>

Seth heard her before he got near the door.

"Nooooo," she howled. He was tensed outside the door because it didn't sound quite right. She didn't sound like she was in trouble. As if Leah could be in any kind of trouble she couldn't handle. He paused and listened.

"I take it back," she howled. "Stop tickling me…."

And then she laughed.

He froze. It had been a very long time since he had heard his sister emit such a natural laugh. She had a bitch chuckle she reserved for Emmett's jokes and a bitter laugh… but … he tilted his head to listen.

He heard a guy growl something too low for him to hear. But he did hear Leah's gasped response and then she made another noise. It was closest to a moan. The scent of sex reached him.

Seth took a step back. She didn't need rescuing. She was having a good time. By the sound of it; a very good time.

He left. And he wondered at Sam's motivation for telling him where she had been.

* * *

><p>"Stop it, for fucks' sake or I'll barf wolf jiz on you," she begged.<p>

"Lawd, your mouth," he complained. But he stopped.

"You like my mouth."

"That I do." He looked down at himself. He was hard.

She looked down too. He still held her wrists in one hand.

"Oohhh… lookie at that…" she crowed. She licked her lips.

"And you said I couldn't get it up," he growled at her in a low voice.

"I'm still not convinced… I mean it _looks_ like it…"

Alcide tickled her again.

"Nooooo, I take it back," she howled. "Stop tickling me…."

"Open those legs girl," he said in a really low growl, "And you can see it up close …" He shifted on top of her.

She hurried to comply and still holding her arms above her head he slid into her, in one hard thrust. She gasped. Her back arched under him and she moaned.

"Oh yeah…" he grunted.

He let go of her arms and she wound them around his neck, pulling his face down to hers. She kissed him hard. She wrapped her legs around his hips and clung to him.

He took up a rhythm of slow withdrawal and faster re-entry. His hands planted on the mattress and clenched into the sheets.

"So good…" she moaned. "Oh yes…"

"Can you… feel that? … Leah?" he punctuated it with a thrust.

He was hitting her hard enough to shove her up the bed a little with each thrust.

"Yes… oh, yes."

"Yes?"

"**Yes**…" she almost screamed it.

He slammed into her now and she clutched at his back, sinking her nails into him. He growled and kept up his endless thrusting into her. She writhed and moaned under him.

"Alcide…" she groaned.

"Right here…" he growled at her.

She grabbed at his ass. He grunted when he felt her nails.

"She wolf…" he told her.

"Yeah…" she moaned.

She put one arm over her head, and placed her palm against the fabric to stop her head banging into the head board of the bed. She pushed back at him.

He stared down at her as he slammed himself into her. He hit a spot where he could hear her breathing change and he kept at that spot until her eyes closed and she thrashed under him. She wailed.

"Please…" she begged him. She wasn't sure if it was for more or not. "Please… please…"

He shushed her. He reached a hand under her and pulled her onto him harder. Suddenly she crossed that boundary; she fell over the edge. Her back arched and she thrashed more. Her body bucked against his and all her internal muscles clenched around him.

He thrust into her with one final movement and he stayed. Pressing hard against her and driving himself into her. All the way in. They both cried out as they came. Wordless noises of incomprehension.

"Jesus!" he eventually cried out. It almost sounded painful.

"Oh… oh… oh…" she muttered.

They panted together. She was still squished up against the head board and he noticed and picked her up, flipping them both around and lay down with their heads at the other end of the bed.

"Thanks."

"You owe me an apology," he dug at her.

"I'll make it up to you later…" she suggested.

"An oral apology?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Sure, sure."

* * *

><p>"So what does chere mean?" she asked. She was lying on top of his body drawing on his chest with a finger tip and playing with the chain around his neck. Their heads were at the opposite end of the bed and his feet were up on the head board.<p>

"It's French," he replied. His eyes were closed and he looked relaxed.

"For what? How do I know what you're calling me? Could be something nasty. Like poo."

"Would I do that to you?"

"Is it French for petal? Pumpkin… cupcake?"

"Honestly." He huffed and rolled his eyes. "It means 'dear', 'loved one' … that's what it means." He stretched and bent one arm to put his elbow under his head.

"Oh, like honey or sweetie…" she commented.

"Yeah; like that."

"Oh." She paused. "So it's affectionate…" she pressed.

"Sure is darlin'." He gave her a long, slow smile.

8888888888

FF_2154210_ - 22/08/2011 03:45:00 AM


	10. Shopping

**10. Shopping**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>They were in his hire car to drive to the shops and boutiques. He had the radio on a classic rock station. It was playing Carly Simon's 'You're so vain'. Leah screwed up her face.<p>

"Classic rock? Ewww," she said.

"Carly Simon is cool."

"It's a stupid song; she says it isn't about him, but it obviously **is**…"

'You gave away the things you loved and one of them was me' he sang and then he stopped suddenly. There was an awkward silence.

"What shape are your dreams Leah?" he asked.

"Dreams?" she sounded like she didn't know what the word meant.

"Like the clouds in your coffee? You do have dreams? Everyone has dreams."

"No dreams," she stated.

"I don't believe that," he said with a glance at her. "If you could do whatever you wanted… what would it be?"

She shrugged. "Can't leave La Push… the pack," she grumbled out. She was actually trying very hard to be so grumpy. It felt odd. "There's no point."

"Would you leave?" he prompted. "Is that your dream?"

She shrugged again. "I dunno." She picked at nothing with her fingers.

He pulled the car up suddenly.

"What? What's wrong?" she panicked.

"I just saw your dress." He was parking the car.

"My dress?"

"Yep. In the window." He jumped out of the door. She was still sitting there. He put his head back inside the car. "Come one. Let's see if they have it in your size."

"I…"

"Come on…" he encouraged.

She went. And they did have it in her size. It was a basic black sheath with thin shoulder straps. It had big cutaway sections at the waist that showed off her beautiful skin. Alcide made a noise when she came out of the dressing room that almost frightened the shop assistant. He made her try on another one too. It was an off-the-shoulder dress, in white with a black zipper right down the front. He said he was taking it too; he liked the possibilities.

He assured her that the same pair of black pumps would go with both.

The shop assistant was looking rather dazzled by this man who was buying his woman clothes. He asked her where the best shoes were while Leah was getting changed back into her clothes. She told him and drew him a map.

He bundled Leah and the shopping bags back into the car.

"We're late for lunch," she whined.

"They'll hold the table." He was so certain about everything, it amazed her.

He found the perfect pair of black pumps.

She whined about the height.

"It's only three inches," he told her. "You are an exquisite creature of grace and beauty; with perfect balance. Are you trying to tell me you can't walk in those? We'll take them," he told the assistant as he handed them to her.

He wouldn't let Leah see how much anything cost. He tore the tags off before she saw them and locked the parcels in the trunk of the car. She was feeling seriously out of her depth and she was starting to be concerned about his motivations. Why was he doing this?

Michael's steak and seafood was their lunch destination. It was only a block from the hotel car park so he left the car there and they walked. He wanted to have wine with lunch. He held her hand. She was glowing. There was this new feeling inside her.

She felt happy.

The only cloud was what the hell she was going to do when he left. But she refused to think about it right now. She had this weekend and if that was all she had, it would have to do. She almost laughed at herself; she was channelling her mother.

They started lunch with a martini each. She had never had one before. She felt hugely grown up. They both ordered the biggest steaks the restaurant offered. She didn't bother telling him that she was only twenty and still wasn't legal to drink alcohol in Washington state.

She did have red wine with lunch, but she had a small amount in a gigantic glass, she just sipped at it and barely finished the whole glass.

"Tell me about you," she prompted.

She had said the right thing; he told her about his business, how it had grown to cover two states and had offices in Shreveport, Monroe, Jackson and Baton Rouge, how it had survived the passing of his father. How he missed him. She nodded. She missed her dad too. His plans for expansion; he talked animatedly and sketched out things on a napkin for her. She was utterly captivated. He had plans.

Then he apologised for hogging the conversation. "So what about you? You didn't really answer me before. Do you want to go to college? You're smart… you should have an education."

"Not possible," she stated. "For reasons we can't discuss here."

He nodded, but he frowned at her.

They had started lunch late, but they also stayed late as well. The restaurant was subtly encouraging them to go, by throwing the flatware noisily into the drawers. He paid for lunch and she was gratified to see he was a generous tipper.

They got directions to the beauty salon. It turned out to be pretty close too.

"My sister Janice is a beautician. She has her own shop in Jackson, Mississippi where the apartment is."

She couldn't stand it anymore. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Because I want to."

"But I hate that shit. Makeup," she grumbled.

"Do it for me?"

"Why?" she was whining; she could hear it herself.

He looked at her. He pushed her up against the wall in the street and he looked at her seriously. "I want to see you in an outfit that cost more than 20 bucks. I want to see you be proud of your femininity. You're a beautiful woman, Leah. You should look like one."

She was silent. She didn't know how to begin to start processing what he had said.

He continued, "And if I'm right; you won't just hold your own… you'll knock it out of the park. Show me **that** woman."

"O-Okay." _Christ, that was lame._ But it was all she had.

At the salon he said he would wait for her. She suspected that he thought she would run if he left her alone; he might be right about that.

"No fake nails," he instructed the beautician. He gave her a wicked smile. "I'll just be picking them out of my back later."

Leah nearly blushed. They took her through into the main part of the salon to trim her hair, do her makeup and nails.

He went to read a magazine in the foyer. He had just finished talking on his phone and was messaging his pack second, when he heard Leah's name mentioned. Two girls were whispering to each other as they left the salon. He stood and followed them at a distance. They hadn't noticed him and his wolf hearing meant he could hear them very easily.

They bitched about the way Leah flaunted her beauty. They referred to her as 'ditchwater'; they implied that she fucked all the Quileute boys that she hung with all the time, sometimes more than one at a time, according to the friend of a friend. She was poor Native trash, worse than trailer trash, and they thought she had a hide to be showing her face in Port Angeles after what she had said to Jenny. Luckily they switched conversation then to bitch about some other girl.

"Sick bitches," he muttered to himself.

He returned to the salon, looking very thoughtful. It had taken everything he had not to say something to the girls. He knew she wasn't doing the pack. He knew she wasn't doing anybody and hadn't been for almost three years. And she did not flaunt her beauty; she seemed remarkably unaware of it and she wore rags and cut off jeans. So he had to assume that most of their other grievances were incorrect too. He had no doubt Leah could have destroyed someone with a word; her mouth was so quick and cutting, so maybe that part was true, but he wondered if this girl she had supposedly destroyed had deserved it in some fashion.

He pushed all of these concerns from his face. One thing he had become very good at over the years, was compartmentalising his brain.

He rose to his feet when she came out. She looked self conscious. It was not a look he had seen on her face so far. They had done a fabulous job, accentuated her best feature; her eyes with those fabulous lashes.

He held out a hand and she placed her newly manicured hand in his. He examined her fingers; a simple French manicure. "Perfect." She was carrying her runners, because she didn't want to wreck her pedicure. He smiled at her.

They made their way back to the hotel. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. "You are officially beautiful," he told her. He was hard, he wanted to fuck her again, but he also didn't want to mess up her makeup. He couldn't remember feeling like this before.

He was very glad he had packed a suit. He was determined to be as well presented as she was. At least as well presented as she was going to be. It was getting late now, they would just have time to get changed and go to their dinner reservation.

He retrieved the bags from the car trunk and followed her up the stairs to their room. He was planning in his head already, all the things he could do to her later. When he got her _out_ of her dress.

"Which dress should I wear?" she asked him.

"The black. My suit is grey."

"Suit?"

"Yeah. I packed one just in case."

She couldn't imagine a man who packed a suit 'just in case'. She went into the bathroom for some last minute things. She took the dress. He smiled at her wanting to get dressed without him seeing her. She wanted to make an entrance.

"No underwear," he ordered through the door.

"Jesus!" she swore.

He put on a black dress shirt and his suit. He would have preferred a shower, but he let her keep the bathroom. He sincerely hoped she wasn't scrubbing off the makeup. He laced up his shoes.

He flicked on the TV. The bed had been made and the room cleaned while they were out. He was standing there in his suit, flicking through channels trying to see the scores when the door opened. He glanced up and froze.

She was breathtaking.

"Oh darlin'," he breathed. "Out of the park." The bulge at his groin was answer enough. She had no jewellery on, not even an earring. He started imagining buying her a necklace to go with that dress.

She put her chin up. "I look good?" she asked nervously.

"Breathtaking."

"You look pretty good yourself."

"Thank you. How are the shoes?"

"They are okay actually. Why? Are we walking?"

"No, I was going to drive."

"Where's the booking."

"C'est Si bon."

"No."

"Pardon?"

"No. I won't let you."

"Let me what?"

"Spend any _more_ money on me…" She shook her head. She almost flapped. "It's too much."

He rushed in and grabbed her by the top of the arms. "Hey, now… don't panic. What's brought this on?"

"It's too much. It's too expensive."

"You're worth it."

"$500 for a bottle of wine?"

"We won't drink wine," he offered. "If I drive anyway, I probably shouldn't drink after having some at lunch. And how did you know that?"

"I read an article in a magazine about it once. It's the only starred French restaurant in the state. The Los Angeles Times once announced that C'est Si Bon was one of the _country's_ best restaurants."

He gave her a very penetrating look. "Is it one of your dreams? To eat there?" he guessed.

She blinked. Her eyes shone.

"Chere," he crooned at her. "Let me take you out. Let me spoil you." Close to her, he could not resist running a finger along the bare patches of her dress. His voice dropped. "And then let me bring you back, get you out of that dress and pound you into the mattress."

Her breathing hiccupped. "Yes…" she whispered to him.

He smiled.

FF_2154210_ - 22/08/2011 03:46:00 AM


	11. c'est si bon

11. c'est si bon

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

It was a ten minute car journey from the hotel to the restaurant.

She watched him drive the car. He did it well, as he seemed to do everything.

"There's a touch of grey in that beard," she noted.

"I'm not a pup, Leah. I'm 30." He glanced at her.

"So is _that_ what this is about?"

"What?"

"Settling down, you looking for a mate?"

"Everyone is. Who wants to die alone? Aren't you looking for a mate, chere?"

She grunted. She didn't answer him. She stared out the window, avoiding looking at him.

8888888

They pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. The gate was lit and had tall shrubs all around it. The garden was full of roses and other flowering plants and smelt amazing.

"Stay," he told her. She sat patiently in the front seat and he walked around the car to open the door for her. He held out a hand to her and helped her get out of the car. She noticed that he watched her legs when she did it. He didn't take a step back; he pulled her in against him and ran his hands down her ass to her thighs. He made a humming noise in the back of his throat.

"No panties," he whispered.

"You told me… and you didn't buy me panties." The ones she had been wearing would not go under this dress anyway.

"Jesus Leah…" He shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. He pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

"You'll be fine… no, you'll be better than fine. You'll cause a scene when you walk into the dining room. I just know it."

His hands slid down her bare arms and he held her hands. He looked oddly serious for a second, as if he was thinking and then he nodded to himself. She felt like she had passed some invisible test.

He held her hand and accompanied her to the door. They confirmed their booking with the maitre d., they refused a drink in the bar and he escorted them to their table. As they walked into the dining room, Leah halted. Alcide stopped and looked back at her; he was still holding her hand.

It was completely over the top. Rococo? She thought she remembered that term from somewhere. It looked like how she thought the Palace of Versailles looked in miniature. The carpet was thick and deep and the palest shade of blue, the walls were a deep pink and covered in ornate paintings with heavy gold frames. The ceiling height was double storey. One whole wall of the room was covered in mirrors that literally doubled the effect. Even the chairs were something she had barely seen before, let alone sat on. They were intricately carved with high backs and plush blue velvet seats. The tables were a long way apart; as if they wanted to grant people privacy more than they wanted to squeeze another table in.

Alcide gave her a tiny tug on her hand and a fortifying smile.

The maitre d gestured to a table between glass partitions. It looked out over another huge semi-outdoor room tiled with reddish coloured floor tiles and filled with more tables. The outdoor chairs all sported white linen covers down to the floor. "The solarium," he explained when he noticed Leah's gaze. The ceiling was glass and stretched up to second storey height on the original building, forming a huge room that curved around the outside of the main building. The glass had white material pieces like sails that could be pulled up to provide shade protection during the day.

Alcide stood by the table and waited for her to be seated. The maitre d spoke to Alcide but she didn't even hear what he said, she was still staring fascinated around the room.

"I can't compete with this," she told him in a whisper.

"But you did," he assured her. "Every man in the restaurant watched you walk over her. Didn't you see that?"

She glanced around the room. People _were_ watching them. She noticed a few were female though. "The women are watching you," she pointed out to him.

"Not just me. We make a spectacular couple," he stated.

A couple. She didn't want to think about that. She had this weekend. Maybe that was all she had.

The food was nothing like she had tasted before. It was delicious. They shared their meals, feeding each other across the table. The portions, surprisingly, were not tiny and decorative. She was so glad; she was concerned she would leave hungry.

They talked about anything and everything; movies, books, funny things they had seen. Their packs and any personal questions seemed off limits by mutual unspoken agreement. It was too easy to be overheard.

They ate all their desserts. And then they had coffee. He didn't seem to be in a hurry.

"I thought you wanted to rush me back to the hotel?" she asked tentatively.

He gave her a heated look. "I'll do it; but I won't be rushing… I'll be taking my time."

She shivered.

The owner approached to ask them how their meal had been. He was so outrageously French. He offered to take them on a tour of the restaurant and they gratefully accepted. He chatted away about how long they had been here, thirty years, how his wife Michele did all the cooking, how he used to play the violin for the movie scene in Hollywood. He was an extraordinary character.

He offered to take a photo of them together. They used Alcide's Smartphone.

They posed for the first shot, smiling into the camera. But unbeknownst to them, he took a second shot as Alcide pressed his lips against her temple, and Leah's spectacular lashes lowered across her eyes.

88888888888

He kissed her hard in the restaurant car park; pressing her up against the side of the car and grinding himself into her. His urgency started to get to her.

She squirmed in the front seat; rubbing her thighs together and regretting the lack of underwear as he drove back to the hotel.

"Christ," she swore.

"What's the matter?" he glanced at her as he drove back to the hotel.

She squirmed some more.

He glanced at her again when she didn't answer. And then he took a long inhale through his nose and laughed. "Awww chere, you getting excited over there?"

"Drive faster," she urged.

"Tell me what you'll do for me."

"I owe you… don't I?"

"Oh yes. An oral apology I believe."

"I didn't think you'd forgotten."

"I hadn't." He leered at her.

"What about me?"

"We can do both at the same time."

"What?"

"A sixty-nine." He glanced at her again. "Oh honey, you've never done a sixty nine?"

"No."

He chuckled. "Well tonight's the night, then. Seeing as how you are so good with your mouth and it also allows me to thank you at the same time."

"You're pretty good with your mouth too," she told him.

"So I've been told," he said carelessly; he was concentrating on driving.

She wondered how many women he had slept with. She knew it was really bad form to ask and what was she going to say if he asked her? 'One'. Ugh. She was positively archaic. And he was thirty. He was ten years older than her. That made a difference too, she supposed. A girl a month, times ten years was one hundred and twenty girls. No, that couldn't be right. He'd had girlfriends. And that wasn't counting anyone he was with before he turned twenty. She shook her head, trying to shake the thoughts out.

He glanced at her again. He had stopped at a traffic light.

"Whassup?"

"Nothing…"

"Uh-huh." He frowned at her.

"Experience," she suddenly blurted out.

"Oh, I see." He gave her a particularly penetrating look. "So not many then. Two?"

She didn't answer him.

"Ahhh," he breathed. "So just the one then?" he asked perceptively.

She rolled her eyes, folded her arms and tried not to think about it.

"Experience isn't everything," he argued.

"Easy for you to say, if you have it," she snarked at him. She felt weird. She wasn't sure if it was because she was trying so hard to be grumpy or if she was genuinely upset at the thought of him being with other women. She shut that thought down before it got away on her.

"So how many for you, then?" she asked; choosing to be really snarky.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"What? You lost count?"

He lifted one eyebrow at her.

"Oh God, I'm sorry… I don't know what's got into me," she apologised. What had got into her? She **never** apologised. "You don't owe me an explanation."

They were pulling into the hotel car park. She thought about doing a Charlie's Angels roll out of the car door and making a run for it. She'd wreck the outfit and she had left the other dress in the room. And she wanted that dress.

She did leap out of the car pretty quickly but he caught her before she got up the stairs. "Stupid fucking shoes," she grumbled as he grabbed her.

He slid his fingers inside the gaps in her dress; he wanted contact with her skin. "Tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head mutely.

"Are you going to cry again?" he asked.

She whacked him in the shoulder.

He chuckled. "There she is."

She rolled her eyes again.

"You're not leaving… you owe me," he breathed at her in a silky voice. And then he kissed her.

They had to stop when another couple needed to get up the stairs. The woman sighed dramatically and Leah snorted with laughter after they had left; it was the same couple that had caught him smacking her on the ass and telling her to get all her clothes off that very morning.

"What's so funny?" he hissed at her.

"It's the same couple… what are the odds?" she snorted.

He frowned.

"After breakfast?" she prompted.

"Oh lawd… is it? I didn't notice them. Too busy checking out your ass."

She chuckled. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her up to the room. Whatever had made her want to run was past and she felt better now. She played with the hair at the back of his neck. She stroked his ear with a finger.

"What happens when I bite **you** on the ear?" she asked.

He grinned at her. "You'll have to try it and see."

FF_2154210_ - 22/08/2011 04:03:00 AM


	12. The Last night

**12. The Last night**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>He unlocked the door, dropped her to her feet inside the room, strode over and stripped the bed. Then he stalked back over and slid his hands inside the gaps in her dress again.<p>

"Get your hands out of my dress… you'll wreck it," she whined.

"I'll buy you another one…"

"No. I like this one."

"Fine. Take it off then."

"Fine." She took it off.

"Oh my God, Leah … all you have on is the shoes."

"The bra wouldn't go underneath it…" she tried to explain. He was just standing there staring at her; still completely dressed in his suit. She felt oddly self conscious. But she knew how her walking across a room naked affected him. She regained some of her self confidence. She lifted her chin.

She reached over and pushed her fingers under his chin. "You're gonna drool."

He started undressing, as fast as he could without tearing his clothes.

She turned and walked away from him. She felt truly sexy; naked, wearing just the shoes. She put some booty swing into it. She crossed the room and pulled the drapes shut.

He almost pounced on her when she started walking back again. She gave a satisfied chuckle. "You promised me something too… you know."

"I don't remember what I promised, but I want to pound you into the mattress…"

"Oh Yeah… **that** was it." She gave him a wolfy grin.

He gave her a grin of his own. Then he grabbed her, lifted her off the ground and spun her in the air. She grabbed at him, with a startled squeak noise. She found herself hanging upside down, her knees resting on his shoulders and her face in his groin.

"Jesus Alcide… could you give a girl a warning?" Then she saw what was right in her face. "Ohhh… seriously?"

"I won't drop you on your head," he rumbled at her. "You look after me and I…" he nuzzled his face into her groin. "I will look after you…" he finished with a lick.

"F-fuuuck…" She helpfully shifted her knees open a little more on his shoulders. "If I pass out… it'll be your fault."

"Oh, I have no doubt," he growled into her.

She was strong enough to arch her back to get some distance away from him; enough to slide him into her mouth. He felt different; upside down she supposed. She wrapped her arms around the top of his hips and hung on. She couldn't take him out of her mouth now, so she concentrated on breathing and not gagging.

He had one hand low in the middle of her back, right between her shoulder blades. He spread his feet on the carpet and started a gentle rocking motion of his hips; holding her steady at her back. His other hand pressed into her lower back, holding her in place for his face. He controlled the whole thing; she just had to cling on.

She discovered pretty quickly that she didn't have the control for this position. Her first orgasm, she arched her foot up in the air and dropped her shoe on his head. Eventually the rush of blood to her head was too much and she batted him on the back. He got the message.

He lowered her onto her back on the bed. She lay there, still upside down and looked up at him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Too much blood to the head," she explained, waving a hand at herself. "Sorry about the shoe."

He chuckled.

"And I kept worrying about you dropping me on my head," she added. "Couldn't concentrate."

"I told you… I wouldn't do that to you."

"Sure, sure."

"What about from here?" He looked eager.

"Pretty single minded aren't you?"

"I know what I want," he stated. "And I'm used to getting it."

He was an alpha; of _course_ he got what he wanted. Probably whoever he wanted too. She had to stop thinking like that, or she would get sulky again. She lifted her face a little and he kissed her, still leaning over her body on the bed. He tasted like her. His hands closed around her breasts, teasing and tweaking her nipples. She moaned appreciatively.

"Let me try again," she suggested. She put her arms around his back and shuffled herself towards the end of the bed. He knelt at the foot of the bed. He was tall enough that the bed was at his groin height. Her head hung off the end a little. He watched her carefully. She reached her arms above her head and pulled him closer. He gave himself a hardening stroke with his hand and then slid his cock slowly into her mouth.

In a surprising discovery, the angle of her neck, straightened her throat out and he slid easily down much further than she had expected. He slid out again leaving her gasping and blowing. He looked worried.

"I didn't think I could do that," she blustered.

"Very impressive," he commented. He put a hand on her cheek. "You're okay?"

"Give me that cock," she growled at him.

He grinned down at her. "Yes, ma'am."

Once he was sure she was okay, he bent back over her body and pushed her thighs apart. Lowering his face into her again.

Oh, she liked this way much better. He could use his hands now and his fingers. Oh my, his fingers. She still didn't have much movement, but she felt a lot more comfortable. He still controlled the pace. And the depth. She wrapped an arm around his lower back and pulled him in closer when she wanted him to go deeper.

She found the loss of control weirdly comforting; the same way his weight over her had comforted her when she was having a panic attack the day before. With her mouth full, she literally couldn't cry out when she orgasmed. But he knew when she had had enough.

And all she could see was him.

He straightened up from her, but she tightened her lips and clung to his ass. He chuckled. "Greedy girl," he breathed at her. She swirled her tongue around his cock in answer. "You want this?" he growled at her as he rocked into her mouth.

Her hand stroked up the inside of his thigh. She felt around his tightening balls and then pressed hard into the spot just behind them; his perineum. He groaned suddenly and lost it; he jetted down her throat. She swallowed quickly, breathing carefully. Her jaw ached. He slid cautiously out of her mouth. His hands on her face again. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. The sight of her swollen lips was almost too much for him.

"Thanks," he said simply. She just nodded at him. "I'm going to have a shower. Come join me, when you're ready."

She nodded at him again. She rolled over and watched him walk away into the bathroom. Oh, he was fine.

She heard the water go on. She got herself together, rubbed her aching jaw and ambled over to stand in the doorway of the bathroom and watch him in the shower. He was shampooing his beard. She'd not ever thought about it before.

He gave her a head jerk, to join him. She smiled, but didn't move.

"Rapidement, woman." He scrubbed his fingers through the shampooed beard.

"What does that mean?" she asked him.

"Quickly."

"Oh."

"Or tout de suite, will do as well."

She hurried to comply.

He hugged her in against him under the water.

"Can I do that?" she asked.

He bent down a little for her. She scrubbed her fingers through his beard.

"Native guys don't grow beards," she stated.

"No."

"Do you ever shave it off?"

"Sometimes. I'm lazy. It's actually easier to trim a beard every week than it is to shave twice a day."

"Twice a day?" she checked.

"Yeah. If I am going out."

"Wow. And I thought shaving my legs was a pain."

"You shave your legs?"

"I do," she held her leg up for him to feel. "See." She suddenly realised that she had exposed herself to him again.

He ran a hand down her leg and grabbed her at the ankle; pulling her groin up against him. "Feels good," he hummed at her. She was sure he **wasn't** talking about her leg.

She suddenly caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror.

She squealed. "I look like a panda!" Her eye-makeup was running under the shower. "Oh man!"

"Awww. You're still beautiful," he told her as he handed her the washcloth to scrub it off.

"Humph. Waste of money," she grumbled. "Just goes down the drain."

"It was worth it," he said quietly. He reached over and grabbed her at the back of her neck, hauling her into him. He kissed her hard. She wound her arms around his waist and hugged him. He was warm; not as warm as a Quileute wolf, but still warmer than a normal person.

It didn't take him long to react in a predictable way.

"Man," she grumbled. "You're insatiable."

"Uh-huh," he rumbled at her. "Come 'ere." He picked her up, holding her under the thighs. She put her arms around his neck. He leant back until his back was flat against the wall and then slid his feet across the shower enclosure until they were against the wall on the other side. She sat on his thighs with her feet dangling. She reached down and held him in place with a hand, her arm around his neck; he helpfully lifted her with his hands around her waist, while she lowered herself onto him.

She made a humming noise as he entered her. He smiled at her.

She rode him. He lifted up occasionally into her. She leant back into the water still streaming down her back. She pulled herself into him and kissed him; thrusting her tongue into his mouth. When she came she shoved her face into the side of his neck. Feeling naughty, she nipped at his earlobe.

He let out a roar; turned swiftly and slammed her back into the wall of the shower recess. Thrusting into her with another growl. He plunged in and out of her; pounding her back into the wall. She was right there with him, biting at his chest and shoulder and raking her nails down his back.

He grunted as he came inside her. "Damn, Leah. Don't do that."

She giggled. "I dunno… it was kind of fun."

He straightened up. "We should turn the water off before we turn into prunes."

They towelled off and fell into bed together.

They lay in the tangled sheets and talked about the stuff they couldn't cover at dinner. She told him all about the two packs and the tribe.

FF_2154210_ - 22/08/2011 05:56:00 PM


	13. Talk talk

**13. Talk talk**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>"Tell me about imprinting," he prompted. He had his head leaning on his elbow lying on his side.<p>

"Ugh…" she grunted. "Do I have to?" she whined.

"Quil is mated?"

"Yeah… she's four… it's sick… I mean not him; he doesn't think of her like _that_. You should see him playing tea parties and ballerinas. He's like the best big brother slash baby sitter she could ever have. Nothing will hurt that small girl, if he can help it. And he is endlessly patient with her."

Alcide was still imaging what on earth the incredibly burly young man he had met would look like having a tea party.

"A tea party?" he repeated.

"Oh yeah. She paints his nails and they play dress ups."

At least, it's better than Jake. His imprint was born in September and is half vampire, half human. Now that is just sick and wrong."

"You like Jake."

"Yeah. He's a good alpha."

"That's not what I meant."

She sighed. "He doesn't think of me like that and once he imprinted. He was just… gone." She was lying sideways with her head on his stomach facing him. He played with her hair. "He's the son of the tribal chief. He's our prince and he's mated to a vampire. Our whole history is about how we fight these things and the Gods see fit to mate him to one! I don't get it."

She was silent for a minute.

"It makes me wonder if the Gods fucked it up somehow." Another pause. "It makes me… doubt them…"

"So, are you gonna imprint and leave me for some total stranger?" he asked.

"Who said I was with you?" she snarked at him.

He laughed.

Then he grabbed her leg and hauled her lower half towards him.

"Jesus, you gonna eat me out again?"

"I know what _**I**_ like…" he growled at her. "And I **KNOW** you like it too."

She was still lying on her side. He lifted her upper leg and laid his head on the inside of her thigh. "See," he said to her. "Even got my own pillow."

She had been lying on his stomach and with the way he had tugged her up the bed, she was more facing his lower abdomen as well. He lifted his thigh helpfully and nodded at his groin.

"Wanna race?" he suggested.

"No," she breathed at him. "I want to take my time."

He chuckled.

"And," added Leah. "I want to finish on top of you."

"I can do that," he assured her. "As long as I get to bounce you off the wall after."

"Well," she conceded. "I suppose you did pay for that room too."

"And the other side," he reminded her, with a grin.

She smirked at him. "You sure you can manage that, old man?"

"Careful…"

She stopped his argument by sucking him into her mouth.

Lying on their sides like this they could rock onto each other. She had one hand holding him at the ass and the other at his lower back again. She could feel his muscles bunch and shift under her hands. He sank two fingers inside her to knuckle depth and found that spot that made her fall apart. She realised that he kissed her there, the same way he kissed her lips; soft.

If there was a finish line, she crossed it first, gasping and shuddering as his lips and fingers brought her to a climax.

When he was getting close she tore herself out of his grip and rolled him onto his back. She straddled him and sank down onto him.

His neck arched and his head flung back on the bed. He held her hard at the hips and ground her onto him.

"Oh yeah…" he growled.

She wasn't sure how dominant she could be, given his explosive reaction to her biting his ear in the shower. She put her hands flat on his chest and rocked onto him. It wasn't long before he was trying to sit up.

She chuckled at him. "Always need to be in control, huh?" she teased him.

"I told you…" he grabbed her by the ass cheeks and slammed her onto him. "Be careful…"

"Christ, you're gonna leave your ball sac print on my ass…"

"Your mouth, woman…" he shook his head.

"I kiss you, with this mouth," she told him again. And she did. He wound his arms around her and seemed to try to hold her as tight against him as he could. They came together; their mouths melded and their bodies joined.

They rocked together gently as they came down from their combined high. His hands kneaded and rubbed at her back.

They drank some isotonic drinks from the mini-bar. They used the bathroom and lay on the bed and talked some more.

"Tell me about your pack. How did you become the alpha?" she asked him.

"A pack from New Orleans tried to take us over… caused a lot of internal problems… they played two factions off against each other… they killed people and blamed the other faction, until we were all so angry we couldn't see straight. It ended in an all out battle between the three parties. Luckily Sookie had got us together before they had picked off too many of us."

"Sookie?"

"She's a friend."

"Uh huh."

He grinned at her. "It's not like that. She's married to a vampire, bound to him. I had hoped … a long time ago." He shrugged. "I'd like her to be the pack shaman, though. She remains to be convinced."

"Why? Is she a shifter?"

"No. She can read minds though."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She does better with humans. She says shifters are hard to read but not impossible. Vamps register as dead spots. Makes sense I suppose."

"Huh. Any other girlfriends I should know about? I never even bothered to ask if you were mated or married."

"I wouldn't have offered to look after you if I was. I'm not married. And I wouldn't do that to my wife, or my mate."

"Good."

Silence.

"Other mates?" she prompted.

"Two women I dated are dead. And another one banished for cheating on me."

"Oh."

"They were murdered. One in the faction wars and another earlier. I am sure they targeted Maria-Starr just because we were dating. They only targeted women, the bastards. The faction was led by a woman and I suspect she saw other women as rivals."

"Dating you is kinda dangerous, huh?"

He laughed. "Maybe chere… maybe. So how did you go wolf?" he asked changing the subject she noticed.

She squirmed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to…" he offered.

"No. It's okay. It's just emotional…"

He kept stroking her with his hands and eventually she started to talk.

"We all knew the stories, the legends of our tribe about how we descended from wolves. My dad was a tribal elder. They hadn't had a wolf pack for three generations, so I thought it was just that; a legend."

She shuffled a little.

He looked at her face. "What happened?" He held her tightly. Bound her in his arms. "Tell me."

"I was so angry all the time. I thought it was just hormones… being a sulky teen… dad grounded me… and I was arguing with my mum and then…" Her voice became even smaller. "I lost myself… I phased… shifted… tore the couch apart… the shock… dad had a heart attack… my brother saw me as a wolf, with dad dying on the floor, my torn clothes everywhere and he was so frightened… he ran… hid. He phased too from the whole scene. He was only 15."

"Oh darlin'," he hugged her. "How awful for you."

"Me? What about my Mum? She had two wolves and a dying husband on the floor. She was magnificent."

He was silent.

"Billy, our chief, thinks she would have made a good wolf. She's… strong... she's spectacular. He said I would have made a better wolverine…" she sounded oddly proud of that statement.

"He's Jake's father?"

"Yes." She was impressed that he was paying attention to her.

"A wolverine huh? They are remarkably strong for their size. The Innu people of eastern Québec think the wolverine is the creator of the world. In their stories, it dived down into the water and pulled up rocks and dirt to make the land. I've seen them fight off a bear or something ten times their size for food. They're tenacious, with powerful jaws and a damn thick hide. Sounds a lot like you. I think I like this Billy," he commented.

"Yeah, maybe, but Mum has a different kind of strength… you know?"

"But she's strong; like you," he suggested.

"Yes. We missed his funeral; couldn't phase back… still so angry."

"Oh honey."

"What about your parents?" she asked.

"My mother died of cancer. Dad died in a fight for dominance. I couldn't protect him. It was single ritual combat. A pack-master thing. The previous pack-master had died in a car crash. My father and another guy stood for the challenge. The other guy cheated, but the vote went against us. He was allowed to continue and then when he won, he killed my father, to make sure he didn't challenge him again. He probably didn't need to kill him, but he did. Later he tried to kill me, too. Patrick Furnan." He said the name as if it ought to mean something.

"He's dead," Leah guessed.

"Oh yes. I killed him. He was the leader of the other faction. I suppose that mkes me the rebel leader."

She shivered. Her pack only fought vampires; not other wolves. If Sam and Jake had fought for the alpha position, one of them would probably have died. Thank goodness Jake had the strength to walk away from that one. She didn't really want Sam dead, and Jake would have killed him for Bella and her unborn child. She just knew it.

Alcide was still talking. "We had to dump my father's body out on our property. Pretend he had fallen into a trough and been attacked by wild animals. Just to cover up the combat and make his death palatable to law enforcement."

"That must have been hard."

"You do what you have to," he said, with a shrug.

"Hang on," she said. "So far, you have mentioned an apartment in Jackson and a property in Louisiana and…

"An estate in Shreveport."

"You own three houses?" She didn't want to ask what the hell 'an estate' was.

"Four. I bought a civil war era house in Bon Temps. I want to renovate it."

She was silent. She didn't know anyone who owned four houses.

888888888888

FF_2154210_ - 22/08/2011 05:59:00 PM


	14. Pizzas

**14. Pizzas**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Leah announced that she was starving, so they ordered some delivery pizzas. He put them on his credit card. She had a quick shower and the pizzas were delivered in fifteen minutes. She came out, wrapping herself in a towel. She noticed he had slipped on some sleep pants made from some t-shirt material, probably to answer the door while she was in the shower. He looked really good in them. They clung to him in all the right places.<p>

She opened one of the pizza boxes and said. "I'm guessing this is yours; the one with the anchovies? I mean you like anchovies on yours, don't you?" she teased him.

He frowned at her. She liked that little 'm' on his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"You like fish… eating… oysters…" she teased. She did the double eyebrow lift.

He chased her around the room. Trying to tickle her again. He caught her and slammed her face first into the wall, pressing his whole body up behind her. She could feel how excited the short chase had made him.

"I don't just like licking them," he growled into her ear as he held her immobile against the wall. Her wolf almost purred. She loved this dominant side of him. He nibbled at her ear again. Then moved to the back of her neck. That sent shivers through her body. She'd never had that reaction before. He made a satisfied noise.

She moaned. She was so excited. She knew he could smell her. "Fuck me, Alcide."

He pressed his groin against her. "Again?"

"Please." She moaned again.

He couldn't rip the towel off her, as it was jammed between her body and the wall, so he reached down and shoved it up her behind. Then he slid his sleep trousers under his balls, bent his knees and thrust up into her.

And then he proceeded to try and fuck her through the wall.

He hadn't completely lost it; he still tried to keep her somewhat quiet out of deference to the other guests. When she was grunting and nearly going to scream; he slid his hand over her mouth. She almost bit him. But she retained some semblance of control as well.

He lost it when he came, and bit her across the back of her neck. She went completely limp on him. Thank goodness he was holding her against the wall or she would have fallen on her face.

They were both shaking when he finally let her go, catching her in his arms and carrying her to the bed.

"Holy fuck!" she swore.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I don't know what came over me."

"Jeez, it wasn't a negative. Keep your pants on." She looked at him and snorted. "You still do… kind of." She put a hand on his face; he still looked sort of worried. "If that was your idea of a quickie… I reckon we still have the other wall to go."

Her stomach rumbled.

He grinned at her. "So you're okay?"

"Christ… will you stop asking me that? If I didn't want to be here, I'd be gone." She patted his face. "You can make it up to me by bringing me a pizza. One without anchovies," she added mischievously.

So he did that. They sat on the bed and ate their pizzas.

And then they lay down, cuddled each other and talked some more.

"So you don't need the moon to change?" he asked. "You said you were angry and couldn't … what was the word you used?"

"Phase?" she supplied.

"Yes. You said you couldn't phase back because you were too angry."

"I can phase now, if you wanted."

"Seriously? Yeah… show me…. I want to see your wolf Leah."

She scrambled off the bed. He flipped himself over and lay on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows.

She glanced around the room to see how much space she had and shifted a chair further over against the wall.

"It's kind of against the rules to do it indoors…" she suggested. "So it might take me a minute or so to get there."

"I'll wait," he assured her.

She stood, very still. Closed her eyes and concentrated. She searched for her inner wolf. She wasn't happy to be dragged out now, but she convinced her Alcide wanted to see her. "Alcide… tell her you want to see her."

That surprised him; that her wolf was more like a second party inside her body, than a form of her.

"Leah Clearwater, show me your wolf," he said in a commanding tone. That did the trick.

She phased.

A slim, grey wolf stood on the carpet. She shifted, nervously on her paws.

Alcide blinked. She was much larger than any female he had _ever_ seen before. She was bigger than any Were he had ever seen before. She was the size of a pony. He wondered how big the male wolves were. They must come up to the shoulder of a normal height person. No wonder she had shifted the chair. And there was no mess or side effects. The fur had just seemed to blow out of her body coalescing into the much larger wolf form. A transformation that was done cleanly, without the influence of the moon and with no mess and if there were no after affects? The possibilities were endless.

"Hello," he said in a low rumbly voice.

The wolf ducked her head and made a whining noise.

He rolled off the bed and stood, very slowly and approached her. He was still in his sleep pants but he reeked of sex. She sniffed at him. She knew this scent and she knew that voice. She liked this male. She licked his stomach. He put his hand on her head. Her shoulders stood at his waist. She was bigger than him in his wolf form.

"You are a beautiful wolf," he crooned. "Look at you…"

She wagged her tail and licked him again. He chuckled. He crouched down a little and held her head in his hands; looking into her eyes. "These are _your_ eyes. Sparkling with your intelligence. That's different! With us, the eyes change first. You can tell if someone is losing it, because their eyes go first. But powerful shifters can change just a part; make their hands into claws… that kind of thing."

He walked around her, patting and stroking as he went. She stood, waiting patiently; trembling a little under the attention of such a powerful male.

"Amazing," he breathed.

She moved sideways, danced around on her slim paws and licked him in the face. He laughed.

"Change back," he ordered.

She did; shaking out her hair as she became herself again and rose to her feet. He sat on the bed and watched her, keeping out of her way.

"That was seriously impressive. You're huge! How strong are you? How fast? Any after affects? Are you tired, need to sleep for a couple of hours?"

"Nope, no sleep," she shook her head. She ignored the other questions. "I just get hungry, but then I'm always hungry. Is there any pizza left?" She raided the pizza boxes and made a triumphant noise when she found some leftovers. She ate them rapidly.

"Ugh, cold pizza."

He grinned at her. "You're big though. Your wolf would be bigger than any wolf in my pack," he pointed out.

She wasn't sure where he was going with that statement. Was he offering something? A place in his pack? She felt like she should be honest with him. Even though she had no idea why she needed to tell him.

"There's just one thing you ought to know. I'm damaged goods."

"How so? You looked perfect to me."

"I'm barren." She managed to say that without losing it. She was kind of proud of herself for that.

He frowned at her. He got to his feet again and approached her. "Who told you that?

"I…. I don't get periods, you know. Like a normal girl," she murmured.

"Of course not. You're _not_ a normal girl."

"Pardon?"

"You don't smell barren, Leah… you just smell … young… you're a juvenile … almost literally… but in wolf terms; you're just a little young… I've been a wolf for almost fifteen years… you'll come good," he stated with absolute authority.

Her eyes shone. She blinked rapidly. She violently threw the pizza crust she had in her hand back in the box.

"Fuck me!" he swore. She didn't think she had heard him swear before. He wrapped his arms around her. "Did you think…?" He couldn't finish that sentence. "Oh, Leah."

His sympathy was too much for her. She let out a strangled sob. He kissed her tears away and took her back to bed.

"So how old _are_ you?" he asked later when she had calmed down.

"Twenty. Nearly twenty one."

"Uh huh. And how big are the other wolves; the boys?"

She noted his reference to them as boys; to him, they probably were. "Huge. Jake is the biggest. He's 6ft 7 human. As a wolf, he stands past the shoulder of a person. Some people saw us once and reported us as 'bears' in the forest. Too funny, huh? Seth, my brother is kind of gangly still, but he'll grow into it. He's only sixteen, but a lot of the new wolves are barely into their teens. Collin and Brady were thirteen when they changed and some of the newbies are younger. They have this massive physical growth before their first phase; they can look 25. They are all different colours too: Jake is a reddish shade, Seth is a sandy brown, and Quil is chocolate brown." She chuckled. "He says it's because he's so sweet… clown."

"Your brother is a Were?"

"Yeah, I told you… remember? He phased the night our father died."

"Your brother?" he checked. "And he really **is** your brother?"

"Hey!" she got offended. "What are you accusing my mother of? Of course, he's my brother."

"Whoa, whoa sorry." He made a surrender gesture with his hands. "It's just in **my** world only the first child is a Were. I have **never** heard of a family with sibling weres unless they had different fathers."

"Really?"

"In all the types of Weres? You know, all the animals?"

"Yes. Sometimes people adopt when something happens to the parents. But born Weres…" he shook his head. "No, never seen it."

She thought about it. "Huh. Guess that makes me even weirder, eh?"

"Weird? No, chere. Unique. Not weird."

It was only later that he thought about the fact that they had been having sex all weekend and she probably wasn't using contraception if she thought she didn't need to and she wasn't having sex. He didn't say anything to her; she was jumpy enough as it was.

But his inner wolf was very pleased. He shoved that thought aside.

He lay there thinking while she fell asleep. He dozed off eventually too.

* * *

><p>At one stage he got up to use the bathroom. As he came back to the bed, he slipped off his sleep pants and studied her as she lay sound asleep on the bed. She was flat on her face on the mattress, her legs apart. He crawled between them pushing her thighs open. She made a small noise of protest at being disturbed in her sleep.<p>

He stared at her vagina. He could see his ejaculate dripping from her and the sight of that tapped into something primal within him; his seed… pouring out of her… he is hard instantly and he wanted to shove it all back inside her… plug her up and make sure it stayed where it is supposed to be… he doesn't even **know** where that thought came from.

He emitted a guttural growl that made her lift her head suddenly, looking for danger.

"What?" she mumbled at him. "What is it?"

He grabbed her thighs, lifted her off the bed a little and slammed into her without preparation. She made a noise now that was closest to a shout.

He pistoned into her. Holding her hard at the thighs and ramming her onto his long, hot length. She tried clutching at the sheets but he was so much stronger than her. He just manhandled her. Looking down at himself as he pushed his seed all back inside her. He lifted up on his knees, taking her with him. Now he had more room to move, he thrust himself into her as he held her firmly in her place. And eventually filled her again with another measured quantity of his sperm.

He lowered her slowly to the bed. Fell on the mattress beside her and threw one arm across her back.

She looked at him.

"Christ," she grizzled. "What brought that on?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I just saw… all my come… pouring out of you…" He couldn't really explain it himself.

"My cream pie," she giggled. She started singing 'my milk shake'.

"You spend too much time with teenage boys," he told her as he pulled up the sheet to cover them.

She chuckled.

They both went back to sleep.

88888888

FF_2154210_ - 23/08/2011 11:28:00 PM


	15. Monday morning

**15. Monday morning**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>He had started to get busier. At breakfast, he took a lot of calls on his phone. Answering texts. He'd walk away from her to talk on the phone. Outside on the balcony to get some privacy. Pack business maybe or work business. He ran his hand though his hair.<p>

She had an ominous feeling her long weekend was over. His real life was intruding.

The easiest thing would be for her to leave; give him no reason to feel obligated. He had spent a fortune on her. Even if she never wore them again; she'd have the dresses. Christ, she could sit around in them like some weird Native American Miss Haversham.

She snorted.

When he came back to their table apologising again, she asked to borrow his cell.

"I'll call Seth and ask him to pick me up. I'd run home but I have some bags to carry," she suggested. "Unless you want to keep them, but I don't think they'd fit you very well."

He looked at her.

"No, the shoes would pinch something fierce," he deadpanned.

She explained the situation to Seth and asked him to bring the car. Seth assured her he could be there in an hour and a half, maybe a little longer. She told him where she was and the room number. She hung up and gave him back his phone.

"It's okay if I wait in the room?" she asked Alcide, suddenly unsure of her standing.

"How long do we have?"

"An hour… maybe a little longer."

He deliberately turned his phone off. He signed the check and took her by the hand. And they went back to the room.

This time they made love.

He insisted on undressing her. She stood, almost trembling and let him do it. For probably the last time. She felt fragile. And small. And wounded.

He kissed every piece of skin he exposed. He lifted her in his arms and laid her on the rumpled bed. She watched him undress and smiled when she saw his thong. It was a green one today. It matched his eyes.

He stripped off and lay on the bed next to her; their faces level. She watched him. A flurry of emotions and things crossed his face. But he didn't say anything.

She kissed him and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see regret.

She held him to her. She reached down a hand and wrapped her hand around his cock. Well as much around it as she could get. She would miss this. She would miss him.

She tugged at him. She lifted her leg and slung it over his hip. He shuffled towards her and steadied himself. He had to work a little to get inside her. But when he did they just wrapped their arms around each other and rocked slowly together. He lifted a thigh and pressed it under her butt, lifting her and rocking her onto him.

She felt like crying but she was determined not to. He went to say something and she held her fingers over his lips; silencing him. He stayed obediently silent. She almost chuckled at the thought that he actually did what he was told for once, with out ordering her around or manhandling her.

They didn't move a lot. It wasn't a position for grand thrusts; it was soft grinding and small movements. Lots of hands, stroking and caressing. She came with small cries and a tear that squeezed out of her clenched eyes. He noticed; he kissed it away.

She couldn't speak now; her throat seized up. She was torn between trying to make it last and trying to run away. She stroked her hand down his ass. God, he had a fabulous ass. She went for the big guns. Well at least she went for his balls. She let her hand stroke them and then she pressed hard on his perineum and he lost it. She knew it had worked before when she was giving him a blow job.

He pressed his face into her neck and shivered. He kissed her neck. She clung to him.

But then she took a deep breath and she deliberately peeled herself off him. It took quite some will on her part.

She slid off the side of the bed, collected her clothes and fled into the bathroom. He heard the water go on. He felt a little hurt. As if she wanted to wash him off before he had even left.

He sighed. He wasn't sure that that was what she was thinking. He didn't know what she was thinking. He rolled over and lay on his back, listening to her in the shower and he stared at the ceiling. He wondered if she was crying in the shower. He sighed again.

He sat up. Her brother would be there soon. He dressed. He didn't shower her off. He wasn't entirely sure if that was a good idea or not. If it got too much for him, he might be able to shower at the airport in the frequent flyers lounge. He started to pack his bag and check the room for anything he had left behind.

Seth arrived just as Leah finished getting dressed. She got to the door before Alcide did. She handed Seth the bags and slammed the door again. She didn't want to introduce Seth to Alcide. Like she wanted to keep him a secret or something. Or to keep this part of her life separate somehow.

So it wouldn't be tarnished. It would remain hers alone. Like a dream.

She told Seth she'd meet him at the car, through the door. She turned slowly and shoved her hands in her pockets.

Her hair was wet from the shower. She was back in her jeans shorts, tank top and runners. She almost felt odd to be back in clothes. She pulled her hands out again; too agitated to stay in one place.

She wrung her hands.

He stood there and watched her.

They didn't know what to say to each other.

"So," she started. "Thanks for … everything. The community service…"

"Leah…I …" He didn't know what to say either. He ran his hands through his hair, the way she noticed he did when he was stressed. He breathed out heavily.

"Look… it's okay… you have a life and a pack and I'm just…" she shrugged. She didn't know how to describe what they had done. It wasn't a quick fuck, for one.

"Maybe… you could…" he started.

"Stop it!" she barked at him.

"Stop what?"

"Stop giving me hope…." It was torn out of her.

"Awww, chere…"

"And stop that too…" she actually poked at his chest with her finger.

He looked confused.

"That cute southern drawl…"

He tried to grin. "Darlin'…"

"**No! Stop it…"**

He tried to hug her, but she stopped him. She slapped at him with her hands.

"You can't come here and do this," she pleaded.

"But…"

"But NO… do not offer me hope! I can't handle it… it will **break** me…" she hissed at him. "To be offered another life …to be offered a taste of something I can't have … something I will **never** have."

He wasn't sure what he was trying to say to her. He wasn't sure if he was offering her anything or not. So he kept quiet.

"You just walked into my life… and you could not be more perfect if I had dreamed you up myself. You're …everything I ever wanted. Look at you. You don't belong here," she almost wailed.

_Neither do you_, he thought.

"Leah, I…"

"**NO**." She took a deep breath. She could do this. She was Leah Fucking Clearwater and she could do this. "It's been fun. Thanks again. I should go."

She spun on her heel and flung the door open and she ran. She didn't even kiss him goodbye.

He stood in the open doorway and watched her go, but he didn't call after her and he didn't try to stop her… although something within him wanted to chase her down. He went back into the room and shut the door. He leaned for a long time with his forehead against the back of the door.

The room reeked of her.

He opened the sliding doors to let her scent escape. Escape. Just like she had.

He packed his bags and headed off to drive to the airport, return his hire car, and get his flight back to Shreveport. To go back to his normal life.

* * *

><p>Leah died inside.<p>

She refused to patrol and no one had the heart to make her. There was no way she was sharing any memories with the pack, even if it was just Jake and Seth. Maybe when she had forgotten, she could phase again. Maybe when his scent had finally rubbed off her skin. She would be able to be a wolf again.

Her inner wolf whined. But she beat it into submission.

Feisty arrogant Leah was gone. She curled into a ball and she lay on her bed and she cried. She felt bone weary tired. She slept all the time. She wasn't eating properly. She was monosyllabic.

There were many whispered discussions between Seth, Sue and Charlie who now virtually lived with them. Charlie pointed out the similarities between how she was and how Bella had been when Edward had left her. Sue suggested she might be clinically depressed. Seth told them she just had a broken heart.

She could hear them of course. Broken? It wasn't broken; it was shattered beyond repair. If you put all the pieces back together now; there wouldn't be enough of them anymore to make a whole.

He didn't contact her.

She didn't contact him.

She didn't want to ring him. She had let him go. She couldn't contact him. His community service didn't come with a lifetime service contract. It was a one-time thing. She knew that. He knew that. That was the deal.

But it is _killing_ her not to contact him.

She imagines that she could run across the country. She is almost certain that she could scent track him anywhere. She could fly to Shreveport or Jackson and track him down from there. She knows she could do it. It is an unusual name. He'd be easy to find on the internet.

Hope.

She told him not to give her any hope. It is ironic now that through his leaving, her **last** hope has been taken away. He had been so thoughtlessly, obliviously generous. He had given her his money, his time and his body. It should have been enough for her.

She was worried. She was **so** heartsick. Did she imprint and not recognise it? Her world is so skewed by fake imprint affection she is unsure if what she is feeling is real or not.

Jake came over. He reeked of vampire. He sat on the edge of her bed with his hand on her hair and she just cried.

"Leah… tell me what happened. I am so sorry I sent you to that meeting. Did he hurt you?"

"N-No…" she whimpered. "Not in the way you mean."

"What happened?"

"He was just… **perfect**, Jake."

Jake nodded. He understood. "I know how much it hurts to want someone you can't have."

"It's worse, because I actually **had** him… for two days… he was mine… no offense…"

"Oh Leah," he sympathised. But she knew he can't really understand; he was still a virgin. A virgin who was waiting for his imprint to grow up.

There was silence for a minute.

"You know you're being Bella Swan…" he pointed out. A glimpse of the old Jake.

"I know," she wailed. "And I can't stop myself… If I do this for four months… just kill me…"

"You smell different," Jake noted.

"That was him… he said the solution was to fill me with wolf jiz…"

"He must have done a good job, Leah. You **still** smell different."

He kissed her on the forehead and he left.

FF_2154210_ - 26/08/2011 03:53:00 PM


	16. Mother knows best

**16. Mother knows best**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Another day, Sue Clearwater sat down next to her daughter as she lay curled into a ball on her bed.<p>

"Tell me about him," Sue prompted as she stroked her hair, the way Leah had always loved her mother to do as a child.

"His name is Alcide Herveaux … he's the alpha… they call it a pack-master for the Shreveport long tooth pack… he's nearly as tall as Jake and he has black hair and green eyes…"

She lit up. She told Sue all about him. Her eyes opened, her face flushed; she glowed as she talked about the guy. Sue nearly cried herself. But she thought it helped Leah to have someone to talk to about him. Even if it just seemed to make it worse afterwards.

* * *

><p>Charlie could not resist checking out his police record. He didn't like it. The guy had been involved somehow in a lot of incidents involving death; violent death. Murdered girlfriends, missing girlfriends; even his father had been found dead on their property. The official result was accidental death. Charlie had doubts about this guy. He was talking to Sue in the kitchen when Leah heard Alcide's name. She had tuned herself out of most household conversations; letting the voices just flow over her, but the mention of his name set off warning bells.<p>

Leah knew that Charlie was aware of the pack secret now. Jake had phased in front of him, much to the horror of his newly vampiric daughter. [BD chapter 25]

She flew down the stairs and defended Alcide. It was the most animated anybody had seen her be for weeks.

"Don't be ridiculous, Charlie," she shouted at him. "You know about werewolves… you know what we all are. Christ, you saw Jake phase in front of you… you're being wilfully blind Charlie … weres are everywhere. Not just in La Push. It's not like we thought… we aren't the only pack in the world. He told me that."

"Sure kiddo, but missing girlfriends… and his father dying…" Charlie blustered.

Leah just interrupted him, "He's an alpha… he's the leader of his pack and it has forty wolves in it… of course there have been deaths and wars and fights that people didn't get through… and rather than just dump or hide the bodies, they have to let them be found… his father lost the fight for pack leader Charlie, that's what killed him…"

"Now Leah…" started Charlie.

"And vampires exist, Charlie… your own daughter is one… and you **know** it!" She had attacked Charlie as the fastest way to get him to stop attacking Alcide.

"Edward saved her life…" Charlie blustered. He loved Renesmee; he knew at some level that she was not a normal child, but he didn't want it rubbed in his face. She was his granddaughter and he loved her. And he also knew at some level that he would never get another grandchild.

"Don't be ridiculous…" Leah insisted, "She wouldn't have been **in** that situation except for him. He effectively killed her…killed her before she turned nineteen for fucks sake!"

"Leah!" Sue is horrified. That topic of conversation is off limits and Leah knew it.

"And you?" Charlie asked. "What are you doing? Killing yourself? Over a guy?" He can't defend himself, so he attacks her; it is self defense.

"**You're not my father, Charlie,**" she screamed at him.

And then Charlie lost it. **"I can't do it again, Leah!"** he shouted at her.

Sue was sure she had never seen Charlie Swan shout. He was far more upset about this than even she had realised. "At least you don't scream in your sleep, but I cannot sit here and watch another girl I am responsible for, kill herself by degrees." He waved at Sue who was speechless in the corner of the kitchen. "Look what you are doing to your mother… she's **that** worried about you…" His voice softened and he took a step towards her. "Please Leah," Another step, "please..."

She stopped. He thought he was responsible for her? He wasn't her father but he was trying to be. She had never realised. She suddenly thought about what she **was** doing. She wasn't Bella Swan, so why the _fuck_ was she behaving like her?

"I'm… s-sorry," she sobbed. It was a tie between Charlie and Sue. They both got to her at the same time. They hugged her between them and they all cried.

She was better after that. She tried hard, she left the house now, she made an attempt to attend pack functions and tribal meetings and so on, but she still refused to phase.

And she still wasn't Leah Clearwater.

* * *

><p>Alcide went home. He resumed his usual punishing schedule of work and pack business. He was home, but it didn't feel like it. He was <strong>so<strong> irritable he almost literally tore heads off.

Leah was all he could think about.

He got through the first week on memories.

The second week he had dreams; wet dreams. He woke up to stained sheets. He hadn't done that since he was a teen.

Week three, he tried to erase her from his life by fucking someone else. He picked up a girl in a bar who wasn't a were, but she smelt eager and was excited by his flirting and his undivided attention. But when he tumbled her into bed, too easily really, he couldn't do it. He couldn't get it up. He'd never had the problem before. It was truly embarrassing to have a beautiful girl pat him on the shoulder as he sat on the edge of her bed with his head in his hands and heard her tell him that it wasn't his fault; that it happened sometimes. Maybe they had too much to drink. All he could hear was Leah's voice pointing out the grey in his beard. He wasn't old; this wasn't about age. It was about her.

Ironically when he wasn't near any other women he had an almost permanent hard on. He had jerked himself off until he was nearly raw and it hadn't helped. He wondered if he was in some kind of mating frenzy. Only she would do.

Week four it was a full moon again. During a full moon all weres found their animal harder to keep under control. It was tougher for younger, inexperienced weres. And the scent of blood or the incidence of violence made it even harder to keep inside. He had made it through the earlier full moon, but this one was bad.

He was completely unable to work for the three days of the full moon; his wolf was _that_ close to the surface. He hadn't had that problem since he was very young and newly lupine. He went out to his property and he ran. And he hunted in the forest that had been deliberately allowed to regrow for just such a purpose. And he tore things apart. But it didn't help.

He almost hoped that someone would challenge him for the leadership of the pack so that he could have a real fight. But no one was that stupid. He just radiated menace.

Finally his second, Jannalynn worked up the courage to just ask him what was wrong.

"What the hell happened in the Pacific Northwest?" she asked. "It has to be the explanation. You have been as grumpy as a bearwere since you came back. And I don't think it is the building business."

He dropped his head into his hands and grunted out a response. "I met someone."

"And?" she probed.

"Yeah… and? That's the problem… and nothing."

"So call her…"

"No." And that was the end of that discussion.

She couldn't get anything else out of him.

He did a lot of thinking.

He rang Sookie. He went out to her house in Bon Temps and sat at her relatively new kitchen table; replaced after the fire destroyed the old one. She served him leftover meatloaf sandwiches with a packet of barbeque chips on the side and a long glass of iced tea. She asked him what was wrong; no one except a vampire could hide any thoughts from Sookie Stackhouse. He just said he needed some answers. And he told her all about Leah Clearwater. He knew she wouldn't tell anyone else in the pack.

"Alcide," she said. "What do you want me to do? If I could meet her, I could read her mind for you. Is that what you want me to do? To see if she is in love with you?"

"No, I know she's in love with me," he replied without thinking. And then he paused.

"And you love her," she added, with absolute confidence. She had probably pulled that out of his head. After all, she found him easy to read when he was deliberately thinking of something, or when it was at the front of his mind, as it were.

"Huh," he commented.

"Well, it seems to me like that **is** your answer," Sookie told him.

"Seems to me like it is." He hugged her hard when he left. She got a jumbled mix of regret, hope and nerves from his head. She assumed the regret was for her. Their relationship timing had always been just the littlest bit off.

He was driving home when his phone rang. He didn't recognise the number.

It was a woman calling. She sounded nervous, and she started the conversation by saying, "You don't know me, but my name is Sue Clearwater."

He pulled the truck over and he listened.

FF_2154210_ - 29/08/2011 12:48:00 AM


	17. Travelling man

**17. Travelling man**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide sat there for the longest time after he hung up the phone. He scrolled through and stared at the photo of them together. He had stared at it a million times this month. His favourite was the second shot; her eyes were closed. Those fabulous eyelashes like feather dusters over her cheeks. She glowed; she looked... happy. And he looked happy too.<p>

And her mother had told him she was anything but now. She refused to phase, to go wolf and she lay on her bed and cried. She was pining for him and truth be told, he was pining for her too.

He rang his secretary and told her to get him on a flight to Port Angeles first thing in the morning. He rang Jannalynn.

"Thank God," she said when he explained where he was going.

He snorted. "You're in charge of the pack while I am gone."

"I want to meet this woman," she said. "You had better bring her back here."

"If I have to throw her over my shoulder and drag her back, kicking and screaming; I'll bring her back. She's mine!" he growled into the phone.

Jannalynn just laughed and rang off.

What did he do about the other pack-master, her old boyfriend, Sam? He needed permission to enter the pack lands. He did have his business card. But if he rang Sam to ask, he might be capable of saying 'no' just to spite Leah. For once, he wished he was a trifle less rule-bound. She had told him that Jake was her pack-master but Alcide didn't know him and he didn't have his number. He thought also from his chats with Leah that Jake's territory covered more of the area where the house of his vampire child resided. The tribal lands were Sam's territory and she was at her mother's house, inside Sam's territory.

He realised that part of him just wanted to storm the tower and drag her away. But if he did that, he may cause her even more hurt. If he unwittingly isolated her from her tribe and her family? What if it didn't work out between them and then she had been ostracised by her tribe? He could cause even more damage to her and that wasn't his intention. He wanted to curl himself around her and protect her; from everything and everyone. Hide in a cave with her and be happy. That was what he wanted. No picket fence here.

It wasn't until he was packing that he thought of a solution. Leah had explained some of the tribal things to him and he had a vague recollection that her mother was not only her mother, but she was also an elder of the tribal council as well. He rang Sue back.

He spoke to Sue for a couple of minutes and then he asked for the chief's phone number. He prayed to whatever gods were listening that _his_ phone credit hadn't run out.

It hadn't.

He introduced himself to Billy. He was quietly spoken, polite and sensible. He laid out to Billy what he could offer her. He explained that in his mind, Billy stood in loco parentis for Leah as her father was dead. He asked Billy's permission to enter the tribal and Sam's pack lands. It was granted. He explained that she didn't know that he was returning, and he asked for Billy's cooperation to keep it a secret from her. He was concerned that Leah would run. He had asked the same thing of Sue.

He made Billy an offer. He would return and he would provide information to the tribe about other wolf packs in their region. He knew that they had believed them selves alone in the world of shifters. He could send his best fighters to assist them with battle training. It would be good for his pack members too, but he didn't tell Billy that, either. He could also make a charitable donation to the tribe. His accountant would be very pleased with that offer; he had been nagging him for a while to reduce his taxable income or to run up some kind of deductibles.

All that was offered on the proviso that she accepted him. If she did, the Quileute tribe would be his charity. She could run balls in Shreveport for all the society queens to raise money for them.

By the time he hung up, he was incredibly pleased with his strategy. He just hoped that Leah would be as easy to talk into it. He had got very used to being pack-master and just having everyone do what he wanted.

But he felt that he had missed his chance with Sookie because he wasn't able to cover all the bases. And because he hadn't acted forcibly enough. Leah wasn't a blond part fae waitress, she was a Were and she would understand.

Christ, he hoped she understood. He hoped that she didn't turn him down. Or hear about it and run. He had to get there fast.

The only flight his secretary could get him on was going to take 12 hours with airport transfers and cost him over $1,000. That was insane; he was mostly upset about the waste of time. He told her to book him on a flight to Seattle and he would drive from there to La Push; that would take him 4 hours for the flight and just under 4 hours to drive.

Seven was better than twelve. He'd risk driving fast enough to do it in seven…

* * *

><p>His GPS beeped to let him know he was at his destination. He looked around with wary eyes. She had said the unemployment rate was 51% and he hadn't actually thought about what that meant in reality. He knew that one of the first things to go in a community under stress was pride. A window broke and it wasn't fixed immediately and then something else went wrong and then you started to dump your rubbish outside of your house and so on. It was a gradual process. Eventually you couldn't see the point of repainting your house or moving the broken down car from what used to be your lawn.<p>

This area relied on tourism; people came here to watch the whales and hike in the forest, so it wasn't as bad as some areas he had seen, but it needed help.

He pulled up at First Beach and got out of his car. He suddenly realised that he hadn't thought to get her address. He could ring Sue but then he reconsidered and put his phone away. If he couldn't track her and find her from here, he didn't deserve to call himself a Were.

He took in a deep inhale. A mix of scents almost overwhelmed him. They had a few in their pack now and it was a small community. He closed his eyes. He sorted through the scents like sorting cards in a hand he had been dealt.

Ah, there she was.

He got back in the car and left the window down. The scent was old; maybe a week old. But he knew it was her. He stopped and got out of the car at each intersection to check the direction she had travelled. Lucky she stuck to the roads.

He followed it as it meandered from the store where he had been parked to end up at a relatively well presented house. Just as he pulled up, a tall lanky boy stepped out the front door. He can't have been more than sixteen.

The boy looked at him through the windscreen. It wasn't a friendly look.

This must be her brother Seth.

He alighted from the car, moving slowly and evenly. He didn't hurry and he didn't make any jerky movements.

The boy studied him warily.

"You must be Seth," he said in a low voice.

"Are you him?" He didn't sound happy about it.

"Yes."

"What do you want?"

"Her… I've come for her." He couldn't see the point to pretending otherwise. "I hear she's not herself."

"Good." The boy nodded.

That reaction surprised Alcide.

"She's asleep. Second room on the left."

They nodded at each other.

Seth held the door open for him.

"Thanks."

When he got inside the house, he took a long, slow inhale. Something inside him shifted. That was what he had missed. But then he frowned a little. There was a note in her scent that he didn't immediately recognise. As he walked almost silently towards her room, he ran through the scent catalogue in his head. He couldn't think of how else to describe it. It was like seeing something and then crossing off what it wasn't until you reduced the number of options.

Her door was ajar; he pushed it open and then he halted suddenly in her doorway. He had recognised the scent note. He pressed the back of his hand across his mouth to keep inside the noise he was going to make.

There she was. Curled up asleep on the bed. She had been reading a book and it lay open on the coverlet next to her. She was thinner. Dark circles under her eyes marred her beauty. No wonder her mother had phoned him; he wouldn't have been able to stand watching her kill herself either.

He took a silent step into the room and then another. He warred with himself. He wanted to wake her up and he wanted her to sleep.

Letting her sleep won. He slipped his boots off (lucky he didn't have work boots on today) and he shuffled carefully onto the bed behind her. He lifted her a little and put his arms around her. Spooning himself in behind her. He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes. He was home.

* * *

><p>Leah was dreaming. She had had this dream before. She felt him hold her against him; she felt him breathe behind her, she felt his heart beat against her back. But she knew that if she opened her eyes it would all vanish and she would be alone. Alone and rejected. Again.<p>

So she slumbered on.

Alcide lay behind her and he planned everything he would do for her. Oddly after only being able to think about fucking her for a month; he didn't need to do it now. He was here with her and letting her sleep was more important. He looked around her room.

He had not realised just how poor she was. He had been a boorish idiot, to throw around money the way he had. It was stupid and ignorant of him. He hoped she would forgive him. He was tired after his own stressful day of travel and he felt so calm and happy now, that his eyes closed and he went to sleep.

They both woke with a jerk when his phone went off.

"What the hell!" he swore as he desperately tried to turn it off.

Leah rocketed out of the bed and stood; trembling with her back to the window. He hadn't had a chance to grab her. His hands were reaching for air, she had moved so fast.

He turned the phone off.

She stood there staring at him as he lay on her bed; as if he was a figment of her imagination.

"Leah?" he asked in his rumbly voice. "You okay?"

She shook her head rapidly.

He held his arms open. "Get over here… tout de suite, woman."

She threw herself back at him. He made an 'oof' sound as she knocked the air out of him. He wrapped her up in his arms again and he laughed. "Oh chere," he rumbled. "I missed you."

She still hadn't managed to say a word. She had her face pressed in against his chest. She started smacking her forehead against him.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She didn't appear to be hurting him.

"Nearest hard surface," she mumbled.

"You're **not** dreaming. I'm really here."

"You're here… you're really here…"

"Yeah," he kissed her forehead and rocked her against him.

He could hear her mumbling away, repeating. "You're here…" into his chest.

He shushed her. "What do you want? You want to go back to sleep? Are you hungry?"

"Can we just stay here? Do you need to be somewhere?"

"No, I can stay."

She snuggled in against him.

"But I think you should eat sometime…" he suggested. "You need to keep your strength up…"

She wasn't game to ask what he was doing here. She thought he had just come back for another fleeting visit.

He on the other hand, was running through his head, exactly how he was going to make this offer. And how he was going to tell her that she was pregnant.

FF_2154210_ - 30/08/2011 01:56:00 PM


	18. Proposals

**18. Proposals**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide held her against him. It occurred to him that the stupidest thing he could do right now was tell her she was pregnant <em>first<em>. He had to make the offer for her to go back home with him, see if she accepted it and then go from there. And if she refused he could use it then; yeah. That would work. You **have** to marry me. You are having my pup. Whoa. Marriage. Was he offering her marriage?

Damn right he was. If that was what she wanted?

If that wasn't what she wanted? He'd do pretty much **whatever** she wanted as long as she came home with him. No way was he leaving her here. He didn't intend to before and now he knew she was carrying his pup? Absolutely no way, was he leaving without her.

They just inhaled the scent of each other. He hummed happily and rocked her against him.

"I missed you too," she mumbled into his chest. "I still can't believe you're really here. How did you find me?"

"Tracked you from the local shop… down by the beach…" He was pleased with himself for managing that.

"Oh, you're good," she told him. "I haven't been to the shop for a week or more," she commented. "Lots of other wolves too," she pointed out. "You didn't get confused?"

He snorted. "None of them are female and in any case, I would know your scent anywhere."

She remembered thinking that she could track him all over Shreveport. She smiled to herself at the thought.

He stroked her hair.

She lifted her head and crawled up his chest. She kissed him. He kissed her back. They wound around each other; her hands digging at his clothes. She wanted to fuck him.

He pulled back. "Whoa, there chere," he said.

"What? You don't want to fuck me?" she sounded offended.

He got an odd look on his face. "In your mother's home?" he whispered, as if it was a mortal sin to even think about doing it.

"Oh puleez," Leah whined. She pulled at his clothes. "Come on… I don't know how long you'll be here this trip."

He grabbed her hands and shifted her back a little along his body; pushing himself up to a sitting position. "Actually we need to talk about that…"

The look on her face; she just panicked. She tried to get off him, but he still had hold of her hands.

"Leah… don't panic… shhhh," he comforted her. "Don't panic. You don't even know what I'm going to say."

"Oh, I think I can guess," she said bitterly. "It's okay… I can throw some stuff in a bag and we can go back to your hotel room." Christ, she was pathetic. She couldn't quite believe it herself, when she heard those words come out of her mouth; but she would have done anything to be with him again. Even if it was just for one night. "If you are only here for a night …" she shrugged. "That's okay." She knew they could get pretty busy in one night, after all.

"No," he said.

"No?" she looked confused. "No, you're not here for a night or no, you don't want me to come back to your hotel room?"

"I didn't book a hotel room."

"And you don't want to do it here… guess that just leaves you the forest, huh?"

"Will you be quiet? I can't think…"

"Why do you need to think? Would have thought it was action you were after."

"Honestly woman…" he started.

"You're certainly a man of action… so what are you doing here anyway … more business…" She was unaccountably nervous and she could not seem to get her mouth to stop talking. She started trying to get his clothes off again.

"Well I missed you…," he started, fighting her off a little. He wanted to talk, not fuck.

"Yeah I know what you mean. I think I missed some parts of you more than others…" she interrupted. "That whole 'fill me full of wolf jiz' theory worked pretty well really… of course, I haven't phased for a while… " She leered at him.

He batted her hands away from his fly.

"Christ, woman! Stop it!" he barked at her. He grabbed her with a hand on the back of her neck almost like he was going to shake some sense into her. She was being a bad puppy. "Will you just listen to me…?" he pleaded.

"Well you haven't really said anything yet," she blustered.

He _actually_ shook her then.

"What did I do?" she whined; now she was a sad puppy.

"If we were in wolf form you would be on your chest on the ground with my teeth in your neck, your ass in the air and your tail held out of the way so that I could fuck some sense into you," he growled at her.

"But that's what I was trying to do!" she wailed.

He shook her again.

She stopped trying to fight him. And she shut up.

"Stop telling me what you think I'm saying and actually just listen to what I AM saying," he barked at her.

"But you haven't said anything…" she muttered.

He growled at her. "Leah…" he warned.

"Fine," she huffed. She looked cowed.

"I love you," he said.

"Oh," she said in a very small voice.

"And I came back here for you."

"Oh."

"And I want you to share my life."

"Oh."

"Come back with me. No strings… just come."

"No strings?" she repeated.

"You want strings? You can have strings. I will marry you if that's what you want. Whatever you want chere, you can have it. You want to try living together, we could do that too. Whatever you want," he repeated. _Now __**he**__ had verbal vomit._

She didn't answer him.

"Let me show you the finer things in life. You know I have a property with acreage and I have a house in Shreveport, but if you like older homes, I'm renovating a civil war mansion in Bon Temps… I want you to see it. An old house. It's got history… you said you liked history. You know Civil War battlefields."

He almost smacked himself in the head. Who proposes to a girl by offering her Civil War battlefields?

"Do I have to fight for you?" she asked in a small voice.

"You don't think you could fight for me?" he asked.

"I'd fight." It was a statement.

"Do I have to fight for you?" he asked. "Because I would."

"Nobody wants me," she sounded bitter again.

"That's where you're wrong, chere.** I **want you. I want you so much I have travelled all the way across the country to get you. I can't live without you."

"You can't?"

"I've been going crazy without you. Couldn't even work during the full moon. Had to bench myself," he admitted. "Haven't done that for a long time."

"What if I lose the fight for you?" she asked. "So much has been taken away from me."

If she lost him; she didn't know what she would do. Jesus she had criticised Bella for sitting around for months mourning, but she had done it too. If she lost Alcide, she thought she just might die. Not that she was even sure she had him. But there was nothing for her, here. Other than family.

"Honestly, I don't think you'd have to fight for me. I don't think there is anyone who would be upset or that you would be displacing. I'm not with anyone from my pack. And it is **my** pack. I choose my mate. And if they don't like it, they can fight **me** about it. Because I don't want you hurt. I was honest with you. I told you about two of my previous girlfriends dying. And about Sookie. I like her. She's a friend to me and a Friend to the Pack, but she's not a shifter. She's part fae. But no one else has a claim to me."

"Fae?"

"Fairy."

"She's part fairy?" She blinked. "There's a whole world out there isn't there?"

"Yes. Leah there is and you should be **in** it. … I want to buy you things… I want to… I want to see you in clothes that do you justice; although I have to say… naked is you at your best… and if any other guy even looks at you I'll be taking you home and reminding you that you're with me … all night…"

"I don't need reminding."

"Don't care. I'll do it anyway."

She smiled.

"Please?" he begged. "Please come back with me?"

"No strings… I can leave… if I want…"

"Sure. If you join my pack though, you will have to abide by our pack rules, but we can go through those before you make your decision."

Silence as she sat astride him.

_Maybe she needed more convincing._ "My family is influential. I meet senators and I need a woman who can stand next to me in that crowd and hold her own. I've seen it; you did it at c'est si bon and you did it beautifully. I know you can be that woman. I'm sure you can. But on the other hand I need a strong female wolf, to back me as alpha and pack-master of the Long Tooth pack. And I know you can be that too."

And then he realised something. **He wanted strings.** Especially if they were having a child together.

"No," he said. "I **want** strings. Actually, I want you bound to me **in every way**. I want to marry you. I want you to be my mate for life, Leah Clearwater. Wolf and man. You come with me now and you stay with me."

Silence.

"Are you going to come or not?" he asked forcefully.

"Can I talk to my Mum?"

"Sure. How long do you need?"

"I dunno… give me five…"

He laughed. "Seconds or minutes?"

She leaped off his lap and ran for the doorway and then she stopped suddenly and ran back. She kissed him hard. "Yes, Alcide Herveaux. I will marry you."

She bounced back towards the doorway. He watched her go with an amused look on his face.

"She said 'yes'," he said out loud.

"MUM!" she squealed as she pelted down the hallway.

"Guess it only took five seconds," he commented to the empty room.

FF_2154210_ - 31/08/2011 02:00:00 PM


	19. Family affairs

**19. Family affairs**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide and Leah had slept for a while undisturbed. Seth had explained to Sue, when she got home, exactly whose car it was parked outside their house. Sue was not surprised to hear he had come for her; he had told her that he would be. She was a little surprised he had done it so quickly. He appeared to be both a man of action and a man of his word. She was impressed. Seth told her what he had said to him. Sue was going to have kittens about them being in Leah's room until Seth assured her that they were not having sex; that they were, in fact, both asleep. He could tell from their breathing.<p>

Sue didn't believe him. She insisted on checking it out for herself. Seth argued that she would wake them up and ruin everything. But she insisted; it was _her_ house, she hissed at him. Lord knows what she would do if they were having sex.

She snuck up the corridor very carefully; as carefully as she could as a plain ordinary human. The door was still open and she almost gasped as she saw them lying together on the bed. They looked really good together. Alcide's back was to the doorway. But she could see their reflection in the window glass. Leah was smiling in her sleep. His face was pressed in against her hair, his arms around her and his body pressed in behind hers; spooning her. They were both completely clothed. A book open on the bed showed Leah must have fallen asleep reading. She snuck back out and pulled the door closed behind her. She thought it was significant that she could sneak up on them of all people; that neither of the two wolves woke.

When Charlie got home he got shushed the second he came in the door, much to his astonishment. "What the…?" he asked.

"He's here!" Sue squeal-hissed at him. And then she made a movement as she clenched her hands and waved them excitedly in front of her. A small completely happy noise escaped her.

"Who's here?" Charlie whispered back. "And why are we whispering?"

"He is. That guy, Alcide Herveaux," Sue expanded.

"He's here? That his car?" Charlie had noticed the rental car.

"He said he had come to get her," Seth crowed. "Although how did he know she was unhappy? She was 'Not herself' he said."

Both men looked at Sue. She looked unapologetic.

"Well," she blustered. "Someone had to do something. I couldn't stand watching her anymore, so I called him."

"**You** called him? How did you have his number?" Seth asked.

"Leah used his phone once to tell me where she was and I wrote it down," Sue looked very pleased with herself.

"So where is he?" Charlie asked. "I want to meet this guy."

"They're asleep… together," Seth answered. He tilted his head to listen. "Yep, still asleep."

"Humph," said Charlie.

Sue prepared dinner and the whole house waited on tenterhooks for them to wake up.

So when Alcide made his speech to Leah, her whole family was listening in. Charlie was virtually family now. Seth gave a running commentary in a whispered undertone. Sue was hugely impressed by his refusal to have sex with Leah in her house. And the fact that Leah took notice of him. That, more than anything sold her on Alcide being the right guy for Leah.

It was with a final narration of, "Nope, he wants to marry her… definitely marriage," Seth filled them in.

That comment made Sue clutch her hand across her heart. "Ohhhh," she breathed. She looked overjoyed.

"Gee, I don't know," whispered Charlie doubtfully. "They've known each other for two days. And why am I still whispering?"

"He loves her… I know he does," Sue crowed. "His first thought on the phone was for her; was she all right, was she eating and sleeping properly or damaging herself… that's what he wanted to know. And as I recall you knew Renee Higginbotham for two whole days, before you decided she was the girl for you."

"Well… that might be true," Charlie blustered. "But I'm not sure it's the _best_ example." It had almost taken him decades to get over that girl.

Leah came bouncing down the corridor at that minute, rescuing Charlie from further embarrassment and discussions on his romantic history. "MUM!" she squealed as she bounced.

She threw herself at her mother. "I said 'yes'," she squealed.

"Well get him out here, we want to meet him," Sue encouraged. "Go on girl, go get him."

"Oh… oh… of course." She looked genuinely confused. And then Leah bounced back to her bedroom.

"Well," said Charlie. "That is definitely an improvement. Lots of life in the girl now."

They peered eagerly down the hallway. It took a few minutes for them both to appear. Alcide had to put his boots back on, and they had spent a minute or so kissing. Leah was eagerly dragging him by the hand behind her. He looked an odd combination of monumentally embarrassed and happy at the same time.

"Whoa," breathed Charlie. "He's as big as a boulder."

"Almost Jake sized," supplied Seth.

"Alcide, this is my family… my Mum Sue, my brother Seth and Charlie." Leah looked so happy.

He shook hands with everyone. He noted Charlie's uniform, but also noted that he wasn't Native American. Leah noticed his scrutiny.

"Charlie is Mum's boyfriend…" she helpfully supplied.

"Hey…" said Charlie. "I'm too old to be a boyfriend," he whined. "Just call me Charlie."

"Okay sir."

Seth grinned at his discomfort. "Charlie is the Sheriff of Forks."

"Oh, I see."

"Dinner's ready… we were waiting for you," Sue stated. She beamed at Alcide.

"Thank you for calling me, Mrs Clearwater," Alcide said.

"Oh, I had to do it… couldn't stand watching her anymore, and call me Sue," she blustered.

"Lucky you had the number, eh Mum?" Seth teased. "Only one who did."

Alcide frowned a little. "I gave my business card to Sam Uley and it has my cell number on it too."

"Really? Sam had it?" Leah checked.

Alcide nodded. Leah almost growled.

"I would have given it to you, if you had asked," he told her intently. He pulled her in close to him, putting his arm around her shoulders and cradling her against him.

She sighed heavily. "I didn't…. I didn't think I had a right to ask for it… you know…" She shrugged. He smiled at her.

"Well, you do now…" he looked so happy. They beamed at each other.

The family ate dinner together. They asked Alcide everything they could think of. He told them all about his businesses and houses. He was eager to make a good impression but not desperate about it. He had maturity, Charlie noted. Sue was also impressed by his table manners, his momma had taught him right. He explained how he had asked Billy for permission to enter Sam's tribal lands. He said he was concerned about Sam's response if he had asked him first.

They were up to dessert and coffee when there was a knock at the door.

"Uh-oh," said Seth with a mouthful of rice pudding.

Alcide bristled.

"Sam," explained Leah to the non wolves. "Speak of the devil…"

Sue stood. "You sit; all of you. I will take care of this," she announced.

She opened the door and stood in the doorway. She did not invite Sam in. They couldn't see the door from the kitchen table, but the voices carried clearly.

"Evening Sam. What can we do for you at this late hour?"

"Is Alcide Herveaux here?"

"Yes, he is."

"Does he have permission to be on tribal land?"

"Yes, I believe he does."

Alcide stood and Charlie did too. They made their way to the front door. Leah and Seth looked at each other.

"He didn't ask **me**," Sam blustered.

Leah rolled her eyes at the table. Seth was still eating his dessert.

"Alcide?" Sue checked. She didn't take her eyes off Sam.

"Your chief gave me permission to enter the tribal lands. You can check with him if you like," Alcide stated. He wasn't happy about Sue fighting his battles for him and he didn't look happy about it.

Charlie stood right behind Sue. He looked like he was hoping Sam would give him a reason to shoot him. Not that he was actually carrying right now, but he would do it anyway… probably from a great distance … and after a suitable time had elapsed. Sam was not Charlie's favourite person at the minute, living with Sue and Leah had tarnished his previous image of Sam quite a lot.

"Billy?" checked Sam.

"Yes, that's right," Alcide confirmed. "Billy Black. I spoke to him on the phone before I came into this territory."

Sam's eyes narrowed. He noticed that Alcide didn't say 'your' territory. "We should talk," suggested Sam evenly.

"Yes, we should, but not right now. I actually want to address a pack meeting. Both packs," he added. "Can you arrange the attendance of all the members?"

Sam frowned at being treated like an orderly. "You want to talk in front of the packs?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in his answer.

"Six o'clock tomorrow night at the tribal hall."

"Perfect." Alcide smiled at him. It wasn't a friendly smile.

Sam's top lip lifted but Sue interjected quickly before the two of them started something dangerous.

"I think I will attend as well," she breezily suggested. "And I will contact the other tribal elders for you, if you'd like, Sam. I'm not sure all of them can make it, but I am fairly certain one or two can."

Sam just nodded, spun on his heel and left.

Sue shut the door and everyone took a deep breath, except Seth who took the opportunity to grab thirds of dessert while everyone else was occupied.

FF_2154210_ - 1/09/2011 05:12:00 AM


	20. Strategy

**20. Strategy**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>"Are you nuts?" squawked Leah after an appropriate time gap for Sam to get out of hearing range.<p>

"Chere, you can't run away. You cannot leave your pack without an explanation. You owe them that," Alcide patiently explained. He held Leah in front of him and had his hands on the top of her arms.

"I… I … don't want to face them," she whined. She looked as if she wanted to tuck herself in against him.

"What if she doesn't attend?" Seth suggested carefully.

"If we… talk," Alcide said. It sounded as if he had replaced the word he was going to say. "And then call her in when we are done. That would work," Alcide said thoughtfully. "If they even need to see her, if Sue is there, she can give Leah's opinion on the events for her."

"But … what if you fight?" it sounded like that sentence was torn out of Leah.

"Then I will win," Alcide blithely stated. Leah finally gave in to the need to touch him and pressed her body up against his. She was looking at him adoringly, so impressed by his willingness to fight for her.

Charlie looked seriously unnerved by the entire conversation. "No…" he blustered. "We have to be smarter than that… it's not worth the risk."

Alcide almost snarled at him. "You saying I can't win?"

"No." Personally, he thought Alcide could tear Sam apart, he seemed just that bit more dangerous and sure of himself, but he didn't say it and he had to get this entirely volatile situation back under some semblance of control. He was supposed to be a law enforcement officer. "Sam's not thinking clearly right now. But **we** have to. We can be smart. Smart can beat strong. And strong and smart is undefeatable." There was a silence. "Is that a word?" he checked nervously.

Sue smiled at him. "I adore you, Charlie Swan," she told him.

Charlie made an embarrassed throat clearing noise. He never was any good with emotions.

"So to be clear," Sue catalogued. "You're going to marry Leah, take her back to…"

"Shreveport, Louisiana," Alcide supplied. "But she has to come back with me first, and then we can arrange a wedding."

"And she will be part of your pack," Seth stated.

"My mate." He beamed at Leah. She glowed.

It was Alcide's turn to look slightly embarrassed. "But please, everyone take a seat. There's something else I should probably tell you all."

Everyone looked politely interested as they took their places at the table.

"Seth, did you notice that Leah's scent had changed?" Alcide asked him.

"Yeah…" he shrugged. "But I just thought it was because she got laid. Sorry Mum," he apologised quickly.

"I would like to say upfront that I made all my decisions and plans for Leah before I got back here and realised."

Alcide reached over and held Leah's hand.

"R-realised what?" she asked quietly; her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"You're pregnant."

The words fell like stones into the silence.

Alcide didn't take his eyes off her. He was terrified she was going to run. The whole room seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for Leah's response. Alcide guessed that they didn't know how to react until they saw how **she** was going to react.

She had a moment of looking completely shocked. She blinked rapidly, her mouth opening and closing without making a sound. She finally managed to speak.

"B-but I-I … can't be…" she breathed. "I told you… I told you that…"

"Chere, believe me… we can get a test if you want." He squeezed her hand.

"With no other females, we don't know what a pregnant female smells like," Seth suggested carefully. Alcide nodded. Leah had told him how young and inexperienced the packs were.

Leah still looked dumbfounded. "Jake said… he _said_ I smelt different… but he didn't recognise it either…" She looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

"I **am** telling you… now…"

"No… no… before… before you asked…"

"Chere," his deep voice rumbled at her. "I want you… I came to get **you**… a baby is a bonus…"

"A bonus…" she repeated in a tiny voice.

Alcide had to know how she felt. "Are you happy?" he asked tentatively. "Because I am."

She looked at him. He looked so worried, not happy. He was clearly concerned about her reaction. She opened her mouth to answer him but her whole throat suddenly seized up. A tear trickled down her cheek. She managed to nod at him before she burst into tears.

Alcide grabbed her. Sue reached for her too, but Seth put a hand on her arm. "He's got her, Mum."

"Oh, chere." He just scooped her up in his arms and held her to him, looked speculatively at the kitchen chair and decided it wouldn't hold their combined weight. He walked quickly into the living room and sat on the lounge with her on his lap. He hugged and rocked her; crooning low to her about how much he loved her and how he would look after them all. How he was so happy. How her baby would be just as beautiful as she was.

When she was able to speak, she poured it all out for him. She was always able to talk to him. She told him how she had thought she was less of a woman, that no man would want her if she couldn't give him children, that she thought she was a genetic dead end, that the Clearwater name all rested on Seth and what they did was so dangerous that he would be lucky to live long enough to have children. That her father had always wanted grandchildren and she had thought she could never have them for him.

The others could hear every word.

Sue and Charlie held hands. Sue was horrified that she had no idea that was how Leah felt. It was typical of her daughter that she would try to deal with something by herself; she never did ask for help. Charlie was thinking that the on-flow effects from the presence of the Cullens were way more than they seemed to realise. He loved having Bella and Renesmee nearby, but he had seen first hand the way their very presence affected the Quileute tribe. Some of the new wolves were just too young.

Seth shuddered; the whole pack remembered Leah's complete panic when she had first realised her periods had stopped. She had thought that she might be pregnant but how could she be when she hadn't been with anyone since Sam? … And then the bitterness and rage that followed as she thought she was in menopause at the age of nineteen.

Alcide told her that he wasn't sure he was ready for this stage himself, in all honesty, until he walked into her room and realised what had happened. "If you run now, I will chase you down and drag you back to me," he threatened.

"You'd have to catch me first," she giggled. But they both knew that he had caught her before.

"She's fast," put in Seth. "The fastest in both packs."

Alcide and Leah shared a private smile, remembering the wall sex.

The others were washing up and putting stuff away.

When he was satisfied that she was okay, he pushed her off his lap with a whispered instruction to go hug her mother.

"Congratulations, baby. I am so happy for you," Sue said as they hugged for the longest time. Alcide shook Charlie's hand.

"Now about that plan?" he asked Charlie.

"Sam loves rules," stated Charlie. "What if, we engineered it to go to a vote?"

They sat, drank some beers and thought about their strategy.

* * *

><p>"Mum, can Alcide stay here?" Leah asked. "He didn't book a hotel room." Her mother looked doubtful. "He won't <strong>do<strong> anything under your roof." Leah rolled her eyes in annoyance. Alcide looked chastened.

"I heard," said Sue. "I am very impressed by that. Your mother must have taught you well."

"Oh yes, ma'am," he replied. "Napkin on your lap, say please and thank you… you know … she was all about courtesy and rules."

"She's not around, I take it," Sue asked; she had noticed the 'was'.

"No, cancer."

"And your father? Is he pleased about the …engagement?" And then she realised that Charlie had spoken of his body being found on their property. "Oh my, I'm sorry… he's passed too hasn't he?"

Alcide looked deeply saddened. "He would have been really pleased about the engagement. He would have loved Leah. She's so feisty. But he's gone too. Just me and my sister Janice now." A pause. "Actually I need to let her know. Tomorrow. If I call her now, I'll never get any sleep." He beamed at Leah.

She reached for his hand and they just smiled at each other; that kind of look where you completely forget that anyone else exists on the planet. Sue felt happy that Leah had made the right decision.

"He can stay," she conceded.

"Cool! Thanks, Mum."

Leah tugged him off to her room.

"She 'heard'?" he checked when the door was closed. "I thought you said she wasn't a wolf."

"She isn't but Seth is. He spies for her and fills her in on what is happening in other rooms. It makes me nuts. He does it for extra dessert. Seth will do _**anything**_ for extra dessert. For a minute there I thought she'd make you sleep on the couch. Not that you would fit."

They partly undressed and got into bed together. Leah found an old pair of summer PJ's to put on. Alcide teased her about the sheep on the print. He slept in his thong. They lay on their side, facing each other. His arms around her and her cuddled in against his body. She rubbed his chest with her fingers.

"You know," he whispered to her. "I have spent weeks with the biggest hard-on, just thinking about you… and now I'm here…"

"Yes, you are," she agreed. Then she snorted. "Typical. I turn you off already."

"Oh no, you don't Leah Clearwater," he growled into her ear. "I just respect your mother's rules."

"What about tomorrow?" she asked archly.

"Hotel. There must be somewhere to stay in Forks. And I can hit the pharmacy, no one knows me. Just to confirm."

"I believe you."

He inhaled. "You smell so good. You have no idea."

She looked suddenly stricken.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Tomorrow. You can't fight. I can't lose you," she whispered. "I'd just… die."

"Oh, chere. You won't lose me, we have a plan. And if it fails; I can take him."

"But don't kill him," she requested.

"Why not?"

His answer showed her just how ruthlessly efficient she suspected he might be. "It would make Emily sad."

"Emily?"

"His imprint."

"I remember. She was your friend."

"And my cousin. He has been a jerk. But… she loves him."

He looked at her. "You are the better person Leah; you know that right?"

"Some days I forgot," she admitted in a whisper. "Some days I was just awful; awful to be around, awful to the other guys… and they were my _pack_. And Embry. I was so mean to Embry." A pause. "I should apologise for that."

Alcide frowned. "I don't know," he almost growled. "I don't want you near any other males."

She made a happy noise. "Squee. Look at you. All possessive."

"Hey," he argued. "That's **my** pup!"

"Yeah… yeah it is."

They both looked down at her flat stomach; imagining the possibilities.

"You're really not upset?" he checked.

"About the baby?"

He nodded. "I always use condoms, you know… but…" he shrugged. "You were so… starved."

"No. I'm glad. It kind of forces me to do something, you know? Sometimes things happen for a reason. It's booted me up the butt and made me think about someone other than myself. And that can't be a bad thing."

He kissed her. Then he groaned. "Hotel… tomorrow… first thing…I can't stand it."

"After breakfast," she suggested.

"Okay."

He hugged her in against his chest.

"I love you Leah," he said.

"Thank you for coming back for me."

"It won't happen again," he stated.

She opened her mouth, ready to get upset.

"Because I am never leaving you again," he finished.

"I love you," she told him.

"Yeah, I know. You told me." He snugged her in even closer to him.

They slept, wrapped around each other. They both slept well for the first time in weeks.

FF_2154210_ - 2/09/2011 03:11:00 AM


	21. The fifty cent tour

**21. The fifty cent tour**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>The smell of breakfast woke them up. They were still asleep on their sides; facing each other and their arms and legs wrapped and intertwined.<p>

He sniffed. "Pancakes?"

"I love my mother," Leah stated.

"Where do I need to go to buy a test?"

"Test?"

"Pregnancy test."

"Nowhere. I believe you. And it's not like there is any doubt about _when_ it happened. And besides the only shop in town is owned by Quil's mother."

"Quil's?"

"Yeah, burly wolf boy. You remember him?"

"Yep."

"Did you want the pack to know? Before the meeting?"

"No." It was his and he wanted to keep it to himself too. "Mine," he growled at her.

She made a happy noise. She pushed him onto his back and climbed onto him and he groaned. It was not a happy groan. "Motel," he grunted at her. "Right after breakfast."

"Do you want the fifty cent tour of La Push?"

"Later. After the motel."

She smiled at him. "You know I'd go with you even if I wasn't pregnant?" she checked.

"Yeah… I know. I was coming to get you, even though I _didn't_ know," he pointed out again. It worried him a little that she might think he just wanted the baby. He didn't; he wanted them both.

"I get that. I mean, how could you have known I was pregnant?"

He was silent for a second. He was thinking that he knew she wasn't using contraception and that he had thought he was in a kind of mating frenzy; where he could only think of her and couldn't touch anyone else. "Yes," he repeated slowly. "How could I have known?" Maybe his wolf had known at some level. Or had not been happy to be without her; pregnant or not.

"We'd better hurry. I can hear Seth moving. Won't be much left if we don't get there before him."

Alcide noticed that Charlie's pancakes got put on a plate in the oven for him. Special treatment indeed. That was until he noticed he got the same and his stack was much larger than Charlie's. He beamed at Sue as she passed him the syrup. She patted him on the shoulder. Charlie frowned. Seth rolled his eyes.

Charlie grumbled something in a low voice. "Can't even grumble to myself without half the damn house hearing…"

After breakfast they headed off into Forks to find a motel.

"You sure they'll let you check-in at this hour? We could do the tour of La Push first," Leah suggested.

"I'll pay double," Alcide growled at her. "Triple…anything…"

Leah laughed. "I missed you too."

"You're the one who kept trying to undo my trousers when I was trying to propose marriage to you…"

"Well how was I supposed to know…?" she grumbled. "I thought you had just come back for a quickie."

"Long way to come for a quickie," he suggested. She grinned at him.

She directed him to the Forks motel. Alcide ran into the office to book a room. She chuckled at his haste.

He dashed back out to the car and drove it around the back. Parking in front of a one level structure, a little separate from the rest of the motel.

"You booked the apartment. Did you look that desperate? He must have overcharged you."

"Furthest away from other rooms," he grunted at her. "Don't care about the cost."

She laughed. Then he dragged her out of the car and towards the door. He took a deep breath; he couldn't get the key in the door. She took it off him and unlocked the door. He pushed in behind her, lifting her off the ground and carrying her into the room in front of him.

"Oh Leah," he moaned. "I missed you." He was nibbling at her neck.

"I missed you too… I thought I was dreaming again when you were in bed with me." She turned in his arms to face him.

"Again?"

"I would dream you were with me and wake up and you wouldn't be there… it was like losing you again," she whispered.

"I had wet dreams," he confessed. "Stained my sheets."

"Oh baby," she kissed him. "Now you can stain someone else's."

"Yeah," he growled. "Get your clothes off before I tear them off."

"That's my alpha wolf," she purred at him. "Let me get my hands on that ass in a thong."

They almost tore their clothes off. He tried to go down on her and she dragged him back up to her face. "No… just you… just need you," she panted out at him.

"Okay," he agreed.

He had to work a little to get inside her. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and she had clambered straight onto him. Her arms were around his neck and they gazed into each others eyes.

When he was finally into her to the hilt, she closed her eyes and leaned backwards and shoved herself down on him as hard as she could. It made his eyes close too. He had thought he was home when he was cuddled behind her smelling her hair, but he wasn't. This was home. Here, inside her.

He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her; trying to bind her to him somehow. They just rocked slowly together.

"God, I missed you so much," he told her. "I went nuts, growled at everyone. Jannalynn nearly bit my head off."

"Who's Jannalynn?"

"My second… didn't I tell you my second was female?"

"Yeah you did. I didn't growl at anyone but I lay around like a pathetic drama queen and cried all day."

"I know."

"How?"

"Your mother called me."

"Did she now?"

"Yes. Thank goodness. Would you have called me?"

"No," she admitted in a tiny voice. "I thought it was wrong of me to need you; you had a life…"

"When she rang, I had just been visiting Sookie. And I had just realised that you loved me. I pulled over to the side of the road, but I was already half thinking about coming to get you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Half thinking?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine… I was coming to get you and then your Mum rang and said you were pining…"

"Humph…"

"Did you miss me?" he lifted into her as he asked and she moaned her reply.

"Y-Yes."

Another lift.

"Oh, yes."

"You smell so good…"

"So do you…"

He stood, turned and dropped her onto her back on the mattress, following her down and entering her again. She wrapped her legs around him and clung to his back digging her nails into his skin. She was holding him so tightly he almost couldn't move, but he managed to lift his hips and rock into her.

"Let me up a little," he requested. And after a few strokes she seemed to remember that she had to let him go so that he could move. She released her arms from his back but still clung to his face.

He kissed her hard. "I'm here," he comforted her. "And you're going with me when I leave," he assured her. "Remember?"

She just nodded. And kissed him again.

He smiled against her mouth. He pushed up on his arms above her. Oh she had almost forgotten his amazing body. She ran her hands up and down his chest. His muscles bunched and shifted as he stroked into her slowly. He kept up that relentless pace until she started to writhe under him and then he picked up the pace. He worked over her. Until she came hard; every internal muscle she had clenching around him.

He groaned. His head fell back and he thrust himself harder into her before he came with another groan. He collapsed on top of her and she wrapped her arms around him and held him in place.

When he tried to move she made him stay; she loved his weight on top of her.

"You know," he said. "I'm in the dominant position."

"I know. That's why I like it, I think."

"So you don't mind?"

"No."

"I get what I want, Leah," he warned her.

"I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

"You're the alpha. I get that. Why?"

"Some one told me recently that I had changed since I became pack-master; and not in a good way, I got the impression."

"Pfft… they were not a Were?"

"No."

"Well, there you go. They don't get it. As long as what you want is **me**, I'm okay with that."

He chuckled. "I do want you, you know."

"I know," she almost purred it.

He moved off her.

"We should get under the sheets. I think I like crisp hotel sheets."

They stripped the bed a little and clambered back in together. He lay on his back and cuddled her in close to him. She laid her thigh over him and listened to his heart beat in his chest.

"I'll tell you why I want the pack meeting. I know you are anxious about it."

"Okay," she whispered. "I'm just worried."

"Debbie Pelt was my girlfriend for ages before she left me for another were. It was one of those awful love hate relationships were we spent more time fighting, you know. She was a were-lynx but her mother had some witchcraft skills. I truly believe that she used something on me. I kept giving her second chances when she really didn't deserve them."

"Maybe you just loved her," Leah suggested quietly.

"I don't know. But in the end I abjured her. I know you won't know what that is, so I'll explain it for you. It's worse than banishing her from the pack. It's like she became invisible. She had done wrong to a Friend of the Pack, to Sookie. She pushed Sookie into a car trunk with a starving vampire. And she had helped torture that vampire, Bill Compton. We were looking for him at the time and she knew it. So she lied to the pack too. She was mean-spirited and truly vindictive. She wasn't a wolf; the pack owed her nothing. When I abjured her, it meant that no one would speak to her or even notice her."

He paused for a minute and got himself together.

"Leah, I don't want anything like that to happen to you with your pack. We'll do this meeting and do it properly so that when you leave, you can come back if you want. And your brother will talk to you."

"I understand."

There was another silence.

"What happened to Debbie?" she asked tentatively.

"I trust you, but you can't tell anyone this."

She nodded.

"She attacked Sookie …again. In her own home. She blamed her for me abjuring her." He took a breath. "She tried to shoot Sookie but Eric her lover, took the bullet for her. He's a vampire so he was all right, but Sookie just shot her. It was self defense and I get that."

"So I guess she wasn't that smart," Leah suggested carefully.

"No, I suppose not."

"I mean she left you… that was pretty stupid… for another were. What was he?" she knew about the different types of weres now.

Alcide didn't blink. "He was a were-owl."

Leah snorted. "That's fucking embarrassing… a were-owl?" she chortled. "Did his head go all the way around?"

"Might have, if I'd got hold of him," growled Alcide.

Leah laughed.

When she had calmed down a little she thought about what he had told her.

"Shit! So witches are real too?"

"Yeah one shared Sookie's house for a while. Amelia. She was cool. Dated a Were. Lone wolf guy."

"What happened to her?"

"She moved back to New Orleans. Why?"

"You used the past tense."

"Sorry. No, she's not dead as far as I know."

They lay there companionably together.

"You never admitted how many women you've been with," Leah stated.

"I told you I don't know; I've never counted."

"Humph."

"For the record, I have a little black book."

"Honest to god? An actual little black book?" she chortled.

"Yep, Sookie teased me about it once. It's my address book, but it is small and black." He shrugged.

"So did you sleep with her?"

"Sookie? Nope; we made out a couple of times. That's all. So what do we do after this? On your tour?" he was changing the subject, but she let him.

"We could go cliff diving."

"No way. Not harming the baby."

"Phase and run through the forest?" she suggested.

He shook his head.

She rolled her eyes. "Jesus. Are you going to be one of **those** guys?"

"Yes I am." He rolled over and pulled her against him. "If I could wrap you in cotton wool and keep you both safe, I'd do it."

She was actually inordinately pleased by that. "What if I can't have sex or something like that?" she suggested mischievously.

"Hmmm. I'd have to think about that one. Maybe we should just have lots now, just in case." He rolled her onto her back and covered her again. She pulled him down onto her.

They eventually made it _out_ of the motel room. They had time to eat a late lunch. They bought takeout and ate it in the car on the way back to La Push. She showed him the cliffs she had wanted to jump off and he gave her a stern look. She walked him along First Beach and prattled on about the tribal history.

They made it back to the Clearwater house in time to meet Jake and Seth just before the meeting. It also gave Alcide time to call his sister and tell her the news.

FF_2154210_ - 2/09/2011 07:06:00 PM


	22. Pack meeting

**22. Pack meeting**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Billy called the meeting to order. He, Sue and old Quil were in attendance. It wasn't the full tribal council of five, but they said they were only there as observers. This was pack business and they were witnesses.<p>

The packs were sitting separately. Jake and Seth alone on one side of the hall, Leah had gone home to pack. She stayed away. Partly, because she was too terrified to watch and partly because Alcide told her to. Jake had noticed that she did what he told her to.

Sam and the other thirteen wolves sat together.

Billy spoke, "This meeting concerns the future of Leah Clearwater. A representative from another pack is in attendance." He nodded at Alcide. Neither mentioned their telephone discussion or tentative arrangement. "Please state your business for the meeting."

Alcide stood. He radiated strength and power.

"My name is Alcide Herveaux. I am the pack-master; you would say the Alpha Wolf for the Shreveport Long Tooth pack…"

"Cool name… we need cool names," whispered Quil.

His grandfather frowned at him.

"I have asked Leah Clearwater to marry me and she has accepted."

Sam made a small noise.

"She will be leaving with me today. But I do not want her to leave her pack without permission. I also, do not want her to be ostracised, or alienated from her tribe and her home. I will, of course, accept her into my pack as my mate and the pack queen."

"How many wolves are in your pack Mr Herveaux? We had no idea other packs even existed until you came into our area. If you don't mind me asking?" Old Quil asked.

"Not at all, sir. I have forty full Weres, some bitten weres and their families."

There was a hiss from the packs. He had more than double their combined numbers. They could do the math. And if he took Leah, they were one older, fight experienced wolf down.

"What's a bitten were?" asked Sue.

"A person who is bitten repeatedly by a were during the change. Some do it willingly some not. They can change partially, especially at the full moon. Some have the mien of victims. They must be handled delicately. I understand that your wolves transform at puberty. That is the normal way for us, as well. But that you are unaffected by the phases of the moon."

"Thank you for your honesty," said Old Quil.

"Leah will be our queen, but she will still be Quileute. I would not ask her to give that up. I hope that our joining will bring other advantages to us both."

"Like what?" asked Billy.

"I can send fighters here to help you train. I understand your wolves are large and to train with larger wolves would be good experience for my fighters too." Alcide realised that the tribe were proud people. He kept his charity offer silent right now, he wasn't sure if they would be offended or not. If they got something and in exchange, they gave something in return, it would be easier for them to accept it.

Jake noticed that he didn't imply that their packs didn't know what they were doing.

There was a strained silence when he had finished and then a voice came from Sam's pack. "You can't take away the pack's only female…" the unnamed wolf whined.

"She is not mated. She is not lauded as your female. Your only female. She should be the alpha bitch, but she cannot be because of this imprinting thing. It seems strange to me, but then, it is outside of my experience."

"I do not understand why she cannot have alpha female status even if she doesn't actually mate with the alpha. You could do it, if you wanted to give her that. **But you don't. **She tells me that most of you see her as an annoyance. She knows how you feel about her; she can see it in your pack mind."

There was a pause. Alcide waited for a response but nobody answered him.

"So I ask, why do you care what happens to her? None of you stepped up for her. Not one of you." He looked over Sam's assembled pack. "You have rejected her as a woman and as a wolf. Christ, she's mostly a wolf… that's what she understands. Fight for her. Did you fight?" he asked Sam. "You could have had her…" he sounded incredulous that Sam would _not_ fight for her.

"I did have her," Sam bit out. It was the first time he had lifted his head in the meeting.

"Ahhh… yes, I heard that." Alcide tilted his head to the side and studied Sam. Sam didn't meet his eyes.

He glanced at the others. "Did you chase her down? Bite her on the neck; be the dominant wolf she was looking for? None of you had the balls for it. None of you even offered."

They looked ashamed and confused.

"I know some of you are pretty young… but others aren't. And not all of you are mated. Imprinted, is that what you call it?"

Nobody answered him.

"Who's the beta wolf?" he asked. "If the alpha is bonded… it's the beta wolf's duty."

"She is; she's the beta in her pack," piped up Jared. "And I am in Sam's pack, but I'm imprinted."

"She's the beta?" Alcide repeated.

"Yeah, she's the fastest too. She's hard to catch," put in Quil.

Alcide just shook his head. "She can't fuck herself! What is wrong with you? Couldn't you smell her need…?" He gave a quick glance at Sue to see how she was coping as they basically discussed her daughter's sex life in front of a crowd. He looked embarrassed for her. She nodded at him. She understood this was pack behaviour.

"Need?" Embry asked.

"I don't know how any of you could call yourselves men; how could you stand to be near her … her _need_. She was starving for attention. I recognised it immediately. She gave off waves of it to me. Christ, it made **me** hurt and I didn't even know her… Three years without being touched? No woman should have to suffer that. Why do you think she was such a cranky bitch?"

He paused, as if to let them think about it for a minute.

When no one responded, he continued. "And surrounded by men that look like you…" He waved a hand at them. "And you know what I've heard? I was only in town for two days and I heard it in Port Angeles, so it must be a pretty common viewpoint. Because she is always seen with you guys, she's gained the reputation of the town bike! The word is that she is doing you _all_; sometimes more than one at a time!"

Sue gasped.

"Any wonder she was so unhappy? Did any of you speak up for her? Did any of you beat down the first person who said that?"

"It's hard to deny something you're _not_ doing," blustered Collin.

"I'll concede that," Alcide allowed. "But did you tell her that? Did you defend her? Did you tell her you tried to defend her?"

He just looked at them. He stood there at his full height; waves of his authority came off him. He was an alpha wolf and it showed. The smaller wolves almost cowered in front of him. And now he was angry.

"You failed her. You all did. In more ways than one," he barked out.

Embry's eyes narrowed. He stood, turned and faced Sam where he sat with his head down, looking solidly at the floor.

"I knew it! I wanted to offer!" he bit out. "I know what you mean about her making you hurt. She did that to me. I asked permission and I got told to keep away. To leave her alone. She'd work it out herself."

Alcide raised an eyebrow. He and Embry nodded at each other respectfully. "I'll tell her that. If it doesn't work out…," he shrugged.

Embry nodded.

"Wait a sec," said Quil. "_Who_ told you to back off?"

All eyes turned to Sam.

He looked so guilty.

"He alpha ordered me not to think about it," Embry added.

"Fucks sake, Sam," muttered Paul. "You've got your mate. You couldn't even let her get laid?"

"No… you don't understand," Sam blustered.

"What? Understand what?" interrupted Embry. "Oh that is it! I've stuck around to help you, but you are just screwing things up. I'm joining Jake's pack."

He physically crossed the floor to sit with Jake.

"Yeah me too," piped up Quil, following Embry as he always did. He jogged over to sit with Seth.

Sam's pack rumbled ominously, they shifted and squirmed in their seats.

Alcide watched with interest. He could feel the power shift in the room. He knew Jake was the chief's son and should be the real alpha. The two packs were too small really and too close together. There was change coming he could smell it. He just hoped it wouldn't be violent. He had promised Leah that he wouldn't kill Sam. But the animal part of him wanted a piece of him.

Seth spoke up. "What is wrong with you, Sam? You can't give her a moment's peace or happiness. Why couldn't you be pleased for her that she had something? Even if it was just Embry?" he asked.

"Hey," chided Embry.

The imprinted wolves looked very unhappy. It was only a small step from stopping anyone being with Leah, to trying to be with her himself. And they all knew that that was what Sam really wanted. He wanted Leah to crawl back to him. And she **hadn't**. She had bitched and whined and carried on, but she hadn't gone back to Sam. Jared and Paul glared at him.

"What do you think Emily will say, Sam?" asked Jared.

"Yeah," agreed Paul. "They're cousins and they used to be best friends before you got in the way. Emily is going to be majorly pissed with you. You're damn lucky you **are** imprinted. Because if she hears about this, she'd be packing her bags in the real world. No way does Emily put up with shit like this."

"Jake," Sam begged. "You have to stop her leaving."

Jake just looked at him. "Why?" he asked simply.

"What?" Sam sounded disbelieving.

"Why should I stop her? The danger is past; the Volturi are gone and not coming back. If there is one thing you can say about them, it's that they keep their word. The Cullens are fine; Bella's beyond help. We don't need Leah. If she was going to imprint on anyone else she would have done it by now. All the pack is phased that probably ever will. This is her entire choice for mate unless she went human."

"Jeez a oney couldn't keep up with her," Alcide said.

"Oney?" queried Paul.

"A normal human. We call ourselves two-natured or twoeys. And vamps are deaders," he explained.

"I like it," commented Paul.

"Alcide is her choice," added Jake.

"No," Sam held.

"Do I have to fight for her?" Alcide asked. He looked preternaturally dangerous.

Sam might have killed vampires but he had a feeling that this guy had killed other wolves. He couldn't win against him if it came to a fight. He was so conflicted; he wasn't even sure his heart would be in it, if he did fight. The guys had reminded him of Emily and his conflicted heart ached.

Alcide knew he wouldn't have to fight; Sam already reeked of defeat to him.

"Huh. That's what I thought," he said with a sneer.

Jake stood and waved at Alcide with one hefty arm. "Look at him, Sam. He's… perfect for her. He's strong and big and he doesn't put up with her shit. Have you seen him? He just … handles her. I think she might be happy if she would let herself be. Let her go Sam. She isn't yours any more and the only way the two of you can get over this … is to be apart. Don't make her keep seeing you being happy and then your happiness sours because she makes it taste like bitter ashes in your mouth. And then you have to stomp any chance she has, in retaliation."

"When did you get so poetic? Sam snarked at him.

"Sam… it's beneath you. Stop it. If Emily could hear this…" Jake argued.

"I can't," Sam almost whimpered it.

Jake shook his head. "No Sam. She wants this. She wants to try."

"We should vote on it then," suggested Sam. He was counting the votes from his supporters and his pack in his head already.

Jake looked at Billy who nodded.

"Agreed," said Jake. "But this is a pack matter and Leah is part of MY pack. The only people who get to vote are me, her and Seth. **We** are her pack." Then he remembered his friends' defection. "And Quil and Embry," he added.

"What?" argued Sam. "We should **all** vote on it," he argued. "Billy?" he appealed.

"Yes, it is her pack that should make the decision. She has already left yours." Billy looked pleased at Jake's cleverness.

Alcide smiled. That was their plan, and Sam had actually asked for it.

Seth grinned. "She can go," he stated.

"I agree," said Embry.

Quil tried to get to Sam one more time. "She's not happy, dude. She makes it harder for everyone. You feel guilty for _being_ happy, you know?"

"Where is Leah?" asked Billy.

"She's packing," Sue answered.

"Well, I don't think we need to ask what _her_ response is, if she is packing."

"Okay then," announced Jake. He stood, looking every inch like a tribal leader. "I'm letting her go, with our blessing."

Sam made a noise.

Jake continued, "And you can't stop her and you can't tell her what to do. Look at him, Sam. The rest of our packs are puppies… none of them can handle her; none of them are strong enough. He's a real Alpha. He's worthy of her. And he's not anything like you."

"Let her go," begged Embry. "If you ever cared for her, you'd let her go now."

"Imprinting." Sam spat the word at Alcide. His last ditch attempt.

"I know of it. She told me," he conceded. "But as Jake said, she hasn't imprinted on any of you."

"What if she does? On some random stranger? You're okay with that?" Sam pressed.

"There is not much I can do about it, is there? It is part of the Leah package and I am willing to take it, if I get the rest of her. But I don't think she'll leave me." He smiled a private smile. He didn't say why. "She **hates** imprinting. I know that much." He glanced at Jake pointedly, Leah had told him how she had got her hopes up with Jake before he imprinted on a vampire hybrid. "**If** it happened, she would fight it," he announced. It was a subtle dig at Sam, who hadn't tried to. "And she'll tear apart any other female who goes near me."

"And she's pregnant," added Seth. "It's his." As if that needed to be said.

Alcide growled at him.

Seth shrugged. "Pack mind; they'll all know soon enough. The second I phase," he looked oddly pleased. "… because I am **so** happy for her."

Sue looked happy for her too. Billy looked surprised. He gave Alcide a more calculating look.

That was the last straw for Sam, he howled as if his heart was broken. It sounded worse coming out of his human throat.

But Alcide got the last word, "You can't even tell your female is bearing." He sounded disgusted or maybe disappointed in them all as wolves.

8888888

FF_2154210_ - 4/09/2011 04:05:00 AM


	23. Back to Shreveport

**23. Back to Shreveport**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Jake and the others came back to the Clearwater house. Sue of course, had something for them to eat.<p>

Jake and Alcide sat on the front porch and had a talk.

"So you have a half vampire imprint?" Alcide asked.

"Yeah Nessie. Her name is Renesmee but only her mother calls her that." Jake lit up. He clearly adored her. It was blinding. No wonder Leah hated being shown this level of devotion and not having it for herself. It would make anyone bitter.

Jake prattled on about how beautiful and smart she was and how fast she was growing.

"Does she drink blood?"

"Yeah, but her family only drink animal blood."

"You should try her on some True Blood. It's a synthetic blood product the Japanese invented. It sustains most vampires."

"I haven't heard of it before. As long as it doesn't change the colour of her eyes. She hates the red eye thing."

"Wait a second, how old is she?"

"She's six months old but she can communicate through mental images. She literally talks with her hands." Jake laughed. "And she has accelerated growth, so she looks about three now."

Alcide wondered if Sookie knew about such things as vampire children, well not vampire children, but the children of vampires. After she had met Prince Alexei Romanov, she got freaked by young vampires. They tended to go insane. "So her mother was human? What happened to her?"

"Man, that was doubly the best and worst day of my life, you know? She had an emergency vampirization. Is that the word? He had to change her after the birth. She would have died otherwise." There was silence for a beat. "Guess she died anyway, eh?" A bitter chuckle.

"Yeah, guess she did." Maybe Sookie wouldn't do **that** for Eric. Not that he was entirely clear on how a dead thing could make a human pregnant in the first place. Lord knows if Eric hadn't managed it yet, it probably wasn't possible.

"Yeah weird," Jake commented. Oddly echoing his thoughts.

"What about when Leah leaves? What about the pack mind?" Alcide asked. "Will it reach as far as Louisiana?"

"It may do. I ran away once…" he looked embarrassed to admit it now. "There was a girl…" he said in explanation.

"Uh-huh," agreed Alcide.

"I tried to be totally wolf. And although I refused to communicate with the pack, I could feel them checking up on me. But it was like they had to almost turn their attention towards me. And I didn't answer, but they could tell what I was thinking or feeling. And I was as far north in Canada as I could get! But it only works within packs."

Alcide sighed. "At least she could keep in touch with her brother. Wolf Skype," he snorted.

Jake laughed. "Yeah."

They thought for a few minutes.

"If she is not in the pack," Jake started. "It shouldn't work. Sam was our pack leader and he wanted to kill Bella; the mother. I loved her and I left his pack to protect her, stood up on my own… but I was really on my own. I could talk to the other alpha mind to mind, but I couldn't hear anyone else. I suspect if I formally hand Leah over to you; you know, and she is accepted into your pack… that it may stop. I can understand why she won't want everyone in her head now."

"Maybe she can decide later, and if it disappears when she joins my pack, I don't think she is going to miss it," Alcide noted.

"Good point, but she may miss it later. At least that would give her the option."

Alcide sighed. "I'm not happy about her shifting at all. I don't want her to harm herself or the baby. We lose a lot that way. The strain."

"But we're different," Jake pointed out. "We're not werewolves. We are more what you call a shifter, right? The moon doesn't affect us."

Alcide nodded.

"So she can choose to change, or not," Jake stated. "If she doesn't want to, the baby should be fine."

"Anger brings it on, doesn't it?" Alcide checked.

"Yeah." Jake guffawed. "You just need to keep Leah happy."

"Oh I **know** how to do that," Alcide chuckled.

The two were laughing together when Leah came out to check on them.

Jake offered to take Alcide for a run later. Alcide agreed. He wanted to see exactly how big Jake was in wolf form. Leah had told him, but he didn't really believe her. Jake said Embry and Quil would want to come too.

Jake chose Embry as his new beta. Quil was just too irresponsible.

Billy wanted to meet Alcide properly too. He looked him over in that quiet, unblinking way he had. Alcide felt like twitching under his scrutiny.

"Pregnant, huh?" he asked.

"I wasn't aware of that… when we spoke… I was coming to get her anyway…" Alcide blustered.

"Uh huh," said Billy. He gave him another assessing glance. "You own a business?"

"Yes, surveying. It's been difficult after Katrina but everyone needs to rebuild and we are very busy. I have four separate offices now."

"What else?"

"I have an estate in Shreveport, a property with a home and acreage for the wolves to use during full moons, an apartment in Jackson and a home in Bon Temps I want to renovate. It would make a great family home." He hadn't thought of that before, but it would be a perfect small town for kids to grow up in. Jake's eyebrows lifted.

"Uh huh," said Billy. "So you'll look after her."

"I would guard her with my life," Alcide stated.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Don't care about the money stuff." Billy turned and wheeled away. Alcide felt like shaking. He turned to Jake. "That's your father?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it."

* * *

><p>Sam lost more than just Leah. Paul just threw himself on the Black lounge the way he always did and announced that seeing as how Jake was his brother in law, he should be in his pack.<p>

Jared said Kim was so incensed by the way Sam had treated his imprint that she would deny him sex if he **didn't** leave.

Within days, most of the other wolves had crawled, literally on their bellies to Jake and asked to join his pack.

They gave varying reasons, but ultimately Sam had shown bad leadership skills and they no longer trusted him.

Without a pack, the council let him retire. The only way he could retain the alpha would be to fight Jake and nobody wanted that. He had walked a hard road phasing first and taking on a new pack and this allowed him to retire with dignity.

* * *

><p>Leah's smaller pack all came to see her off. She had packed, hugged everyone more times than she could count, promised to phone everyday and Alcide had assured Sue that she could visit any time in Shreveport and he would make sure Leah came back too, until she was too big to travel. And they had a wedding to plan.<p>

She had a little sad moment in the car at the thought she was leaving her tribe, her home and her family. But she looked at the man driving carefully as if he had the most precious cargo in the world in his hands, and she decided she had a new family.

"What?" he demanded.

She just smiled at him and reached out to hold his hand.

She had never been on a plane before. He held her hand and kept her calm when her mouth went dry and she thought she was going to have a panic attack. She could not believe that something so big and so obviously heavy could really get off the ground.

"Tell me about Jannalynn," she suggested. Anything to get her mind off flying.

"She's young, skinny… pretty intense… she loves being the enforcer and my second. But I am concerned that she has too many jobs. She runs the bar for the pack too. She is quite ruthless." He chuckled. "Sookie always describes her wardrobe choices as 'startling'; she mostly wears work out gear." He fell silent for a minute. "She has been a strong supporter of me for a long time. She deserved the second job. But she is _very_ intense."

"She looks after you," suggested Leah carefully.

"Yes. God help you if you hurt me. She was the one who argued for my last girlfriend to be banished." His voice dropped so that others on the plane couldn't hear them. "She cheated on me, which was bad enough, but with another pack member? Unforgiveable. But she's been pretty happy lately. She's dating Sam Merlotte, Sookie's boss. He's a true shifter."

"He can change into anything?"

"Yeah, even a lion, but he is usually a collie."

She was pleased to hear Jannalynn was dating and had never seemed to see Alcide that way. Probably he had never seen _her_ that way. Men could be so oblivious sometimes.

He had left his truck in long term parking. She laughed at the sight of the new model Dodge Ram with all the extras. He produced the hard hat with a grin, reminding her of their first discussion about real men and them owning real trucks. The outside of the truck gleamed, but inside, it was the littered vehicle of a man who spent his working life on the road; the hard hat, invoices, estimates, business cards, a pair of boots, a first-aid kit scattered over the floor. But no food trash.

He drove for a while and entered what looked like a very nice area of Shreveport. He pulled up at a metal gate that opened automatically from a remote in the truck. They drove up the circular driveway to the front of the house. It was an outsized two-storey brick home on large grounds, enhanced with impressive landscaping. He wanted her to go in the front door; not through the garage. So he parked under the port cochere. It was an older style solid construction over the driveway so that the car passengers could alight under cover. Originally they were built for carriages. Its roof formed a balcony off the second storey.

He hurried to open her door for her. She was sitting in a kind of daze.

"This is your house?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. He pulled at her arm and got her to get out of the truck.

"Come on," he encouraged. "Come inside."

He opened the double front doors and she walked carefully into the foyer.

"The bags?" she asked.

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "They'll be fine."

She glanced around. The house looked like something from a magazine.

The foyer had a large round table with a flower arrangement in the centre and doors behind it that opened onto the living room. It was quite a place.

There were French doors on the other side of the big living room that looked out over the patio and the garden. Lights out in the back yard that would illuminate the garden and the pool at night. The yard was not only enclosed by a fence that had to be seven feet tall, but it was also lined along the outside with those quick-growing cypresses that shoot up like little spears. In the middle of the patio was a fountain, easy drinking for wolves. A lot of wrought iron furniture and stone tables were set around on the flagstones. It was very impressive.

The living room itself, was very 'men's club'; all glossy dark leather chairs and wood panelling and the fireplace was as big as fireplaces got in this day and age. There were animal heads mounted on the walls. She found that kind of amusing. A bar stood in the centre against the wall.

"What about the kitchen?" she asked.

"You don't have to worry about that," he stated.

"Pardon?"

"I have a housekeeper who cooks and cleans for me."

A housekeeper. Oh my.

There was a large set of stairs on the left that swept up to the second floor.

He took her hand and led her up them. She was unnaturally quiet. She walked down a hallway past a large masculine study at the top of the stairs.

"Wanna see the bedroom?" he leered at her.

He picked her up without waiting for her answer and ran down the hall with her. The master bedroom had a massive four poster bed with mosquito net curtains, currently held back with brocade tie-backs. It was made out of the same dark wood as the other furniture.

"Teak," he said. "It smells good."

He put her down and let her wander around. She walked into a room off to the side of the bed. "What's this? It's empty."

"Wardrobe."

"A whole room for your clothes?"

"Actually, that one is for **your** clothes. Mine are over there." He indicated a door on the other side of the bed.

He lay on the bed and watched her. She started to move more quickly as she got more excited.

The French doors opened onto a small veranda that looked out over the back yard.

She opened all the doors and looked inside everything. The ensuite bathroom made her gasp.

"Oh my god, that's a swimming pool, not a bath. You know this room is bigger than my bedroom?"

"Yeah. The bath has got a special pump so that it fills quickly. Before the water goes cold."

And then she just stopped in the middle of the room. He could hear her heart rate. She was panicking again. He clambered off the bed and approached her slowly

"Chere?"

"It's too much," she whispered.

"It's fit for a queen," he suggested.

"It's too much," she repeated.

"We can change it."

"Why would I change it?" She looked adorably confused.

"Because it's your house," he explained.

"But it's **your** house." She frowned.

"No, it yours now, too."

"Oh." She blinked. "OH."

"Leah?" he checked.

"**My** house…" she breathed.

"Yeah."

"I don't want to change a thing," she whispered.

"Okay." He paused. "Are you gonna cry again?"

"I'm so happy!" she sobbed.

Then she threw herself at him. He was intently trying to get her clothes off when they both heard the front door open.

"Alcide?" a female voice called out.

Leah raised an eyebrow.

"Jannalynn." He raised his voice. "Down in a second," he called out. He kissed Leah hard. "We'll finish this later," he promised her.

"Did she come back with you?" they heard her ask.

"Yep," he called. He grinned at Leah. "Come meet her." He tugged her after him, out of the room.

Leah was eager to meet Alcide's biggest supporter.

A very skinny young girl was bouncing in place at the bottom of the stairs. Alcide was correct about her clothes, she was wearing a sports bra and a pair of running shorts and gladiator sandals laced up to her calves. But Leah, as a Were, understood. She had lived in t-shirt dresses and shorts herself for a long time.

The girl's hair was cut short and spiky and bleached platinum blond; it looked subject to change. She was wearing large earrings too and a number of necklaces.

The two women eyed each other off. Alcide rolled his eyes. He kept his arm around Leah. "This is Leah Clearwater," he introduced her. "Jannalynn Hopper."

"Hi," Leah muttered. "I've heard so much about you," she said without a trace of irony.

"Yeah. You too." And then she grinned at her. "He looks happier already," she chuckled.

Leah glanced at him and laughed. "Yeah… well… we have some news…"

The younger girl sniffed deeply. "Oh wow," she said.

"And we're getting married," Alcide stated.

Jannalynn was everything Alcide had described; skinny, vivid, with MTV clothes and she _was_ kind of intense. Leah studied her while they spoke about some pack business.

She loved Alcide but not in an emotional way. It was clear that he was the sun she orbited around. He was her leader. She would do anything for him. Her conviction vibrated off her in waves of eagerness. And he seemed blissfully unaware of her adoration. Or maybe just took it with an easy assumption that he deserved it.

They had been through some stuff together. And Jannalynn had supported him in going to La Push to get her. She hadn't offered herself to him. Interesting. But the last thing Leah needed was her as a rival. She gave off seriously scary vibes. She might think that Leah would take some of her duties and that could be bad.

"Leah?" he asked. He had obviously asked her something and she had missed it.

"Sorry. Miles away," she apologised.

"Are you hungry? Jannalynn manages the Hair of the Dog for the pack. It's a Were bar. Did you want to go and have dinner there?"

She thought about it. "I just got you back," she said, "and I am not letting you out of the house until you can barely walk on your own."

He blinked. Then he smiled wolfishly. "Excellent. I agree. We can order in."

They were still staring at each other. Jannalynn cleared her throat.

"Right…" she said. "I'll just be going then."

"No wait," Leah said. "We need to talk." She patted Alcide on the ass. "You go have a shower, honey. I'll be up in a minute."

He looked astonished, but went, after a glance at the smaller girl.

Jannalynn gave Leah an assessing glance.

She jerked her head at the kitchen. "I need a glass of water," she suggested.

Jannalynn showed her where the glasses were and she filled two with tap water. They perched on the stools pulled up to the counter.

"I don't want your job," Leah stated.

"Which one?" she asked. "I manage the bar, plus I'm pack enforcer and his second."

"Any of those," Leah cheerfully agreed. "Especially if I am pregnant."

"He wouldn't let you, anyway."

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Won't even let me go cliff diving or phase."

"Phase?"

"Turn wolf."

Jannalynn snorted. "Typical."

"How old are you?" Leah asked.

"Twenty one. You?"

"Twenty."

"Cool." She drank her water in one go and placed the glass in the sink. "I don't want _your_ job either," she stated. "I've got Sam." She held her hand out to Leah to shake. "We'll look after him together," she offered.

"Good." They shook on it. She saw herself out.

Leah looked around the kitchen and then went back up the stairs. Alcide was leaning against the wall in the hallway with his arms crossed. It made his biceps look massive. He watched her as she came up the stairs.

"What?" she asked him.

"What was that about?"

"Sorry to order you about, but she and I just needed to get some stuff straight."

"About me?"

"Yeah. She loves you. You never noticed?"

He shook his head.

"Oh, she doesn't love you like that," Leah explained. "But you are the centre of her world and if she sees me as a rival, I'm in trouble. I bet she's not nice to people she doesn't think are good enough for you."

"Huh," he said as if he had just worked something out. "Yeah. That would explain it."

"And," Leah continued. "If I am your mate, aren't I her boss too?"

"Yes," he agreed.

"So I need her on my side and **you** are the thing most important to her."

"Did I ever tell you how smart you are?"

"Yes, but you can tell me again." She stood on tiptoes to kiss him. "And why do you still have your clothes on?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Uh-huh. Well I'm here now."

He laughed, put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to their bedroom.

As they entered the room, she noticed how high the bed was.

"Why is the bed so high off the ground?" she asked him.

"So I can have you standing up from behind without bending my knees."

"Pfft… you made that up."

"Did not." He walked over to the edge of the bed to show her just how high off the floor the mattress was. "Wanna try?" he raised both eyebrows at her.

"We gonna christen the house?"

"Get over here woman."

"Jeez are you a cat or a wolf? You know cats like being up high…"

"Shut up and spread those legs," he growled at her.

FF_2154210_ - 5/09/2011 04:16:00 AM


	24. Leah meets the long tooth pack

**24. Leah meets the long tooth pack**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide introduced her to the whole pack at the next meeting. It was held at their house. He explained that she was his mate; his choice and that if anyone had a problem with that, they could take it up with him, not with her. He also told them that she was pregnant and they were going to be married. The pack rustled and shifted; murmurs coming from some. He talked about how he had met her pack in Washington and that they were all huge. She was the smallest of them all.<p>

He explained how their shifter nature came as some kind of gift from their gods and not only were they huge but they were preternaturally fast; they could run faster than a bird could fly. He had witnessed this himself. And they were not subject to the phases of the moon; they were shifter wolves, not werewolves. He kept glancing at Leah as he spoke and his eyes glowed with pride and love; he adored her.

Leah studied her new pack. Their ages ranged from about sixteen to much older, grey haired weres in their seventies. She changed her idea about Jannalynn. She wasn't the only one who treated him as the centre of their world. Quite a few pack members gave off the same vibe. They rushed to congratulate him. But she could tell there were still a few doubters amongst them.

"There's one easy way to prove my merit," she suggested. "To demonstrate that I am a worthy mate for you."

"How?" he asked. He looked suspicious.

"Show them what I am. Phase."

"I'd rather you didn't," he argued. "I don't want anything to happen to my kid."

"Just once," she said. "Otherwise they won't believe you. And if this isn't the whole pack, then there are enough people here to tell the others who might have missed the meeting."

"I don't like it," he growled.

He was interrupted by her just phasing with a ripping noise and any objections died in people's throats as quickly as her tattered clothing fell to the floor. She was a seriously impressive wolf specimen. And if she was the smallest of them… they could do the math. She stood there at her full wolf height, trying hard not to puff herself up to try and look larger. When the mutters and comments of the pack grew loud enough, Alcide ordered them to silence.

"My mate," he stated. He sounded a whole lot of proud and just the littlest bit of arrogant.

She left the room with Jannalynn to change back and find some new clothes.

Alcide addressed the pack again, "I have made arrangements with her former pack master for a transfer program between our packs. We can each learn much from the other. She was their only female and they have many unmated males; at least twelve. Most of them are in their teens. Their pack master Jacob Black is 6 feet 7 in human form and he isn't even twenty and the biggest Were in wolf form that I have **ever** seen. He stands at shoulder height for most people. I saw this myself, we went hunting together."

There was even more muttering after that statement.

"Also," Alcide announced, "Neither of Leah's parents were Weres but her full blood younger brother is a Were as well. It is my hope that she can breed true."

That caused quite a stir given in their world, each family only got one were child and only if both parents were the same weres themselves. Wolves couldn't breed with tigers for example.

* * *

><p>He woke one night to find her missing from their bed. He tracked her down and found her sitting on the back patio steps, wearing his clothes and looking out over the garden.<p>

He tucked himself behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "What's the matter?"

She was silent for a minute and then she spoke very quietly. "It's too much… you're like some weird furry prince charming that just rolled into my life and changed everything… just knocked me sideways… completely out of my life path… I feel like I don't deserve it… like its all going to go wrong somehow…"

He sighed. "It wasn't a path, Leah. It was a rut… and one so deep you could barely see out the sides anymore."

He hugged her tighter to him.

"You certainly changed my viewpoint," she admitted.

"And you changed mine," he confessed. "When I was younger, I didn't date other Weres… I didn't want to pass on what I thought was a handicap. But now? … I can't imagine how proud I will be of my children when the eldest shows they are truly **ours**… it's not a handicap; it's a gift."

"It's definitely brought **me** some benefits," she admitted.

He kissed the side of her head. "And you deserve them… you do… please believe that…"

"If I hadn't been so desperate would you have even noticed me?"

"Oh yeah…" he growled. "I would have noticed you… you are…" he shook his head. "… I don't have the words… you are so beautiful, and so smart, feisty, and funny and I am so lucky to have you…"

"I thought you said you didn't have the words," she interrupted.

He chuckled. "Furry prince charming…" he repeated. "I left you with more than a glass slipper. You know I read somewhere that there is some debate that the slipper was meant to be furry. That they mistranslated the French… the words for glass and fur sound the same… I don't know if that is true or not, but you deserve your furry slipper, chere… didn't Cinderella deserve everything she got too? She was good and kind…"

"I went for a scan today but I didn't know how to tell you…" she interrupted.

"What?" he panicked. His hands covered her slightly swollen stomach.

"No it's okay… they're okay…" she quickly stated.

"They?"

"Yeah… it's twins… not identical…"

"Why didn't you tell me about the scan? You know I would have come with you?" he sounded put out.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I wanted to go alone… I just keep thinking it will all be taken away from me. I was so big so early, and it sounded odd. The heartbeat. It must have been the second one; it sounded like an echo. I was frightened."

"I am going to book another scan as soon as possible. I want to see them too."

"I'm sorry... I didn't think about that."

"Oh Leah; please talk to me… and don't leave me out of this. Please tell me all your worries. That's what I'm here for. You know we talk to each other so well. Don't lock me out just because I'm busy."

"You've got so much to deal with… with the business and the pack."

"But **you** are my highest priority. I'd lose it all, if I could keep you…"

"Even this?" She waved at the house and the yard.

"It's just stuff…" His arms tightened around her. "You are the only thing I truly need."

"Oh Alcide, I love you so much."

"Not half as much as I love you."

"Are you arguing with me?"

"What? Me? No… no…"

Silence for a minute. He rocked her gently between his legs. Her head leaned back on his shoulder.

"Twins," he breathed. "So can we find out the sex?" he asked tentatively.

"No. And no choosing names either."

"If that's what you want." He poked a finger in her side. "Superstitious girl," he teased.

"Yeah," she admitted. "Let me have my little quirks."

"You can have all the quirks you want, but if you start obsessively washing your hands you're out."

"Pfft. I don't believe that," she chuckled.

"Yeah… okay. You're probably right." He hugged her again. "You can stay. As long as you stay in my bed. I don't like waking up and finding you gone," he confessed. "I was worried."

"Sorry. I didn't think of that."

"Come on woman. Back to bed." He made to move.

"Can we just sit here for a minute longer? I like looking at the yard at night."

"Sure." He wrapped himself around her again. "As if you feel the cold…"

Another companionable silence.

"Do you think all our children will be wolves like Seth and me?" she asked.

"I don't know. I hope so, in one way."

"Why?"

"I haven't told you this before and I guess no one else was game enough to tell you either…."

"Tell me what?"

"If I win a challenge against me… I am supposed to take a female to ensure the pack future."

Leah was already growling. "**Hell no!** Over my dead body another female touches you," she snarled.

"I agree…" he cut her off. "So if our children are all Weres … I can argue that I don't have to do it. If they are, I won't have to fuck anyone else."

She growled again. "I'll just tear them apart," she snarled.

"And I don't want to fuck anyone else," he finished quickly. "And neither does my wolf."

"Humph."

* * *

><p><strong>Growling.<strong>

* * *

><p>Man, did she have a lot to learn. She thought becoming a wolf was bad enough but now she had to learn how to stand properly in high heels; not slouch and hunch over. And to watch her language. How to be endlessly polite and not say anything too critical or rude. She had a lot of trouble with that one. She had been a snarky bitch for so long, it was almost second nature.<p>

And Alcide was a very good looking man. He had delegated a lot of his work to spend more time with her and less on the road. They each had problems with members of the opposite sex propositioning them. Neither was very happy about someone getting too close to their mate.

And she had to learn how to apply makeup and remember to check it during the night. The first time she stuck her tongue down Alcide's throat she wiped lipstick all over him. He looked like a clown, until she cracked up laughing and he found a folded and ironed handkerchief in his pocket to wipe it off.

She also had to learn better table manners. She ate like a starving well… wolf. And she was even hungrier all the time because of the babies. She would look up at some boring ass function to see Alcide frowning as she ate half the buffet while the guest speaker droned on about something she could care less about. The food was out there to be eaten, what the hell was the problem with her eating it? And how was she supposed to remember what was a garnish or not? If it was on the plate, it was meant to be eaten in her book. And if the speech was boring, why couldn't she get up and get some more food? She was eating for three you know.

But her biggest problem came from the vampires. They didn't smell like the Cullens; less like candy and more a drier dead smell. But she could never forget not to growl at them. Alcide would frown at her as her top lip lifted.

Especially with the babies. Her instinct was to protect them.

And politicians had to be the most boring self serving people on the planet. She wanted to growl at them too.

But she got it all together. She was smart and he was determined that she would not fail. And plus she was so desperate to please him. She wanted to do her best for him; she wanted him to tell her how proud he was of her. She met the neighbours and she was the perfect hostess whenever they held a function in the house. But she needed to do something else; she had nothing to do. She didn't have a job, she couldn't really attend college with babies on the way, she wasn't one for big shopping sprees and lying around the house got boring.

She was at home one afternoon raiding the fridge when her new cell phone rang. She answered it without looking at the number.

"Hello?"

"_L-Leah"?_

She knew that voice. "Emily?"

"_How are you?"_

"Good… you? Everything okay?" Her first thought was for the pack.

"_I'm okay. We all are… Seth gave me the number. I wanted to congratulate you on…"_ she paused. _"…everything."_

Leah inhaled. She knew Emily desperately wanted children; it was all she had ever wanted. They had made some stupid pledge years ago that she could get married first (to Sam, of course) but that Emily was going to have the first children. And now she was unwittingly doing **both** before her friend. She knew from seeing inside Sam's head, that Emily was having problems getting pregnant. And Alcide had knocked her up in one weekend. Admittedly it was a pretty big weekend, but still.

"Thanks," she managed to say. "What about you?"

She could hear the almost unspoken sigh and knew it was a negative. _"I need to do some more tests, but …"_

Leah knew how the rest of that sentence would go. The tribal medical centre didn't have the equipment and they couldn't afford to travel to somewhere else and to pay for the tests to be done. She felt guilty that Alcide's medical insurance just covered anything she needed and if it didn't, he just paid. "Oh Emily," she sighed.

And then they talked; really talked. They had been best friends before a man had got in the way and now Emily had made first contact, Leah realised how much she missed her. They promised to phone each other more often.

That night at dinner she told Alcide all about it. "Someone should do something," she said.

He gave her a look. "Why don't _you_ do something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Run a function… raise some money to get them the stuff they need. Maybe make the Quileute a charity project. We can contribute a decent amount. You can talk to the accountant if you want." He couldn't believe that his original idea to raise money for the tribe had come up again. And if she thought it was her idea, he wouldn't be treading on anyone's toes.

She sat there and thought about it. She didn't have a job. Half the functions they attended were money-raising for some charity or other. She had never thought about it before. She could do this. Her mother was on the tribal council. "Mum," she breathed.

"Yep, get your Mother involved and she can okay it with the Council and tell you exactly what they need."

She was inspired. She and her mother together would be unstoppable.

"Some of those politicians you always growl at might come in handy now," he pointed out with a chuckle.

FF_2154210_ - 6/09/2011 04:42:00 AM


	25. Charity queen

**25. Charity queen**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Leah turned out to have extraordinary skills in the charity world. She started with the Quileute and then she branched out into other aid organisations. La Push got new equipment for the medical centre and then eventually a whole new medical centre. Then they built a new marina. The marina brought in better boats and that brought in more tourists and that lifted everyone in the town. More tourists meant more income for everyone. More shops opened and then cafés and kiosks. And more accommodation places followed. And they all employed local people as workers and guides. The money stayed in the community.<p>

The medical centre was probably self interest. She had asked Alcide to let her give birth on the tribal land so that their children would be Quileute. He had his doubts after he checked the medical centre and they had almost fought about it, until she came up with the solution of building a new one. Or getting the old one all the equipment it needed. Or both.

He apologised for arguing with her. She understood that he was just terrified of losing her or their babies. Twins were tricky; there were often a lot of birth complications with twins and their survival rate was lower than that of single babies too. She knew he was just worried.

Alcide's sister Janice became one of her best friends. She had two kids of her own. And she became Leah's go to person for pregnancy advice. She knew of their dual natures. That was unusual in were families, often the eldest had to keep their real nature a secret from their own siblings. Leah could not imagine having to do such a thing. She was lucky, in one sense, the pack was respected and honoured amongst the tribal members who knew of it.

Janice also listened with great patience when Leah wanted to whine about how protective Alcide was being.

Jake organised clean-up days for the whole neighbourhood. La Push needed some cleaning up. They towed away some of the junk. The pack was tirelessly efficient at collecting garbage. A pack member would show up and mow your lawn, or fix that broken window or offer to take that old refrigerator to the dump for you.

Some of the pack argued they were behaving just like glorified Boy Scouts but most of them loved their community and wanted it to be the best it could be. The community paid the pack a stipend and they earnt it. And besides, if the alpha ordered it, it had to be done.

The community became proud of the boys and men that had scared half of them a year ago. Some people, like drug dealers were still scared of them and they left or were encouraged to go.

After the Tsunami in Japan, there was a concerted effort to shift some of the tribe's more valuable and important buildings and records to higher ground. The whole wolf legend started with a flood so large, they could tie their canoes to the treetops and the current reservation would be destroyed by another such wave now.

**_[AN: this is a real charity and a real issue. Google US congress bill HR 1162 if you want to find out how to help._**

**_H.R. 1162: To provide the Quileute Indian Tribe Tsunami and Flood Protection, because...they are a very, very small voice in the wilderness. ]_**

She ended up on various boards and committees; all of which paid her substantial sums for the privilege.

She had acquired a confidence in herself that made her a fabulous chairperson. She would listen patiently, let everyone have their say. But she was commanding enough to cut it short if people were wasting their time, or waffling on endlessly and saying the same thing in three different ways. She pushed boards through more work in less time. Most of the boards didn't know what had hit them.

She could talk people at charity balls into pulling out their chequebooks.

She made impassioned speeches about living an underprivileged life. She stood there, pregnant and glowing with health and spoke about child mortality death rates in low income areas.

She would be a fabulous spokesperson for the Weres if and when they decided to reveal their true identity. Alcide had an idea to use Patricia, one of the wolves from the other faction that had been absorbed into his pack after the faction war. She was brunette and pretty as a picture and didn't look anything like a werewolf. She was perky enough to sell used cars and she had a face for television. So if they used her as the demonstration model; asked her to shift on live television, she would be so pretty that they would be distracted. And if went wrong and someone killed her, well… she was the new girl.

Alcide had to bite his tongue more than once when he felt Leah was too close to a man. It would not do for him to literally rip the guys head off when all she was trying to do was get more money out of them. But he growled a few times as she patted some guy's arm. And she knew it. She would give him the eye across the room and he would know she was going home with him.

It made him want to possess her all over again. It made him want that ring on his finger. She had been digging her heels in about the wedding. He suspected that she was having a rare moment of vanity and wanted to be thin; not pregnant. He stepped up the 'marry me' campaign by assuring her that pregnant she was the hottest thing on the planet. He wasn't lying about that. And he tried to convince her that his conservative family would prefer the children born in wedlock. Even if she was large with his children at the time of the ceremony.

* * *

><p>Alcide looked particularly nervous one night and not happy about it.<p>

"What _**is**_ the matter?" Leah asked.

"I have to take you to meet the Sherriff of area five, that's Shreveport."

"Sherriff?"

"Vampire sherriff… Eric Northman. Sookie's Eric. He wants us to meet him at Fangtasia, his bar."

She blinked. "And you are worried about me."

He was pacing frenetically. "Yes," he growled out. "I don't want you on his territory and I don't want you anywhere near him. He is unhappy enough that I have kept you away from him this long."

"Tell him I'm not old enough," she suggested. "To be in a bar."

He stopped and then he laughed out loud. "You are so smart."

"Where would you be happy to meet him? We have to do it. He is powerful, you said."

"Sookie's house? I still haven't managed to show you the old house I bought either," he looked suddenly eager. "And I want to."

"Perfect." She smiled at him.

He pulled out his phone and had a quick conversation. "He agrees that having an underage woman in a vampire bar would be a very bad idea. They have to be extra careful. Can't afford to put a foot wrong with the authorities. No feeding on humans on the premises. So it's Sookie's tomorrow night."

"Eww… seriously? People want to do that?"

"Yep. They call them fang-bangers. They're like vampire groupies."

She laughed and then grabbed her stomach. "Ouch. Don't make me laugh, they kick me back."

"Atta boys," he crowed.

"Humph. They might not be boys, you know."

"And you know I don't care either way." They beamed at each other.

* * *

><p>The car trip to Shreveport was quiet. Leah preferred to use his truck and it was what he was most comfortable in. They had to go after dark of course. They timed the trip so that it would be just sundown when they arrived.<p>

"How old is he? This Eric guy."

Alcide glanced at her. "He's ancient. More than a thousand years old. Their pecking order works on age, so he is powerful. He is also cunning and very, very smart. I think he used to be a Viking."

"Whoa… that is seriously old."

They turned off the narrow parish road into a driveway. It had been recently refinished and the drive was smooth. The drive continued through some woods and then arrived at a clearing in which a large wooden house stood. It was painted white with a tin roof. Its broad front was covered by a screened in porch.

"Now that's a family home," commented Leah.

"Sure is. Her great-great-great grandfather built it."

A security light came on as they approached the back door. "Sookie? Where you at?" Alcide called out.

"Hey y'all," a tiny woman shouted out to them. She had a strong southern accent.

"Sookie," Alcide called. "This here is my Leah."

She opened the back screen door and met them out in the yard.

"Oh well look it at you. Alcide, you didn't tell me she was bearing?" she chided him and smacked him playfully in the shoulder.

She just rushed up and grabbed Leah's hands. Leah was a little flustered.

"Oh wow. Twins, that's wonderful!"

Of course. Leah had momentarily forgotten her ability to read minds. She glanced at Alcide and he shrugged.

"You get used to it," he said. "Yes, twins. We are very excited. Where's Eric?" he asked her.

"He should just be getting up. I left him some nicely warmed Trueblood in the kitchen for him. It's polite to warm it a little in the microwave for them… body temperature 'n all," she explained for Leah who was looking a combination of off put and clueless. "You come inside now."

The vampire was standing in the kitchen. He was blond, blue-eyed, tall and broad shouldered. His hair was long, straight and parted in the centre and hung below his shoulder level. He was wearing boots, jeans and a vest, period. He looked every inch the Viking he had clearly been a long time ago.

Leah could get a better look at Sookie now in the light. The tiny blond woman standing next to him glowed with good health. She had an even tan. She was also blue eyed and maybe twenty five. It was hard to tell. She had a tiny waist but made up for it in the bust line. She was wearing a white sundress with bright red flowers printed on the fabric and red shoes. The white dress showed off her tan to its best advantage.

They made a striking couple.

Alcide stopped some distance from Eric and bowed his head. "Eric," he stated formally. "This is Leah Clearwater."

"Alcide."

No hand shaking she noticed.

Eric studied Leah as if he was counting her eyelashes. She found it seriously unnerving. She was trying desperately hard not to growl at him. She knew he had influence over Alcide somehow.

"Where did you find such a specimen?" the vampire asked.

"Pacific Northwest. She is Quileute. Their tribe are shifters who take the form of wolves."

"Not for a long time, I believe…" he studied her again. "Maybe three generations…" He lifted his eyebrows as if that had been a question and Leah had missed it.

"That's right. You've heard of us?" she asked.

"Large wolves," stated Eric.

"Yes." And then just because she couldn't resist, "And we hunt vampires."

Alcide made a small movement; like a nervous twitch.

Eric looked at her and then he laughed. "And let me guess… you have a problem with that now… in polite society?" he sounded sarcastic.

"Yes, I do," she admitted. She assumed the vampire could tell if she was lying, but she could feel Alcide almost twitching again.

Eric smiled; his fangs showed when he smiled. He still had blood on his teeth from the Trueblood bottle he held in his hand. "As do I," he stated then he drained the bottle and placed it on the sink. He turned and hugged Sookie. "Lover, I need to be at Fangtasia tonight. You will call me later." He kissed her goodbye so thoroughly Leah felt like they ought to leave the room. She met Alcide's gaze. He frowned at her. She was misbehaving again.

Eric deposited Sookie back on her feet. "Alcide, Leah," he nodded his head at each of them and then he strode out the back door.

"No car," Leah spoke without thinking.

"Oh Eric can fly," said Sookie.

"Flaah?" repeated Leah.

"Fly," Alcide stated.

"What the fuck?" Leah blurted out.

"They can't **all** fly," Sookie prattled on. "Just like not all people can sing or tap dance… it's a special skill… I mean, it don't seem fair, what with all the other skills most vampires have… but then I lie on my chaise longue in the sun and I thank God for being human you know?"

"Amen," said Alcide.

It struck Leah as pretty funny given none of them were entirely human. Sookie insisted on them staying for a drink and she asked Leah all sorts of questions about her home and how she was settling in and did she miss her family and when the wedding and the birth was.

"Y'all gonna check out the house now? Oh, that place is a real antebellum house; predates the War of Northern Aggression as my Gran always called it."

She hugged them both goodbye and they finally got back on the road to see the Civil War era place that Alcide wanted to show her. Given they both had excellent eyesight, she had no problem actually seeing it. And it looked better somehow in the dim light; as if its scars and blemishes were hidden.

It was a big place, like Sookie's, with two storeys and windows in the roofline that showed there was an attic. It had a wide veranda all the way across the back and partly around the side. But the front had massive pillars that stood the full height of the front of the house. It looked like something out of Gone with the Wind. He held her hand and they walked all around it. He wouldn't let her go onto the veranda because some of the timbers were rotten and he didn't want her to fall.

When they got back to the front she stood on the potholed drive that had been overgrown by the grass and she looked at it. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He knew her well and he waited for her to speak first.

"It's a plantation house," she said.

"Uh huh."

"How many bedrooms?"

"At least six, but there are so many rooms, and extra space in the attic. And at one time they have walled in parts of the back veranda; it's pretty clear that was used as a bedroom too."

"Oh what a pity."

"I'll fix it. Put it back the way it is supposed to be."

"With polished floors and white painted walls and a porch swing…"

"Leah Clearwater… are you a traditionalist?" he teased her.

"I guess I must be." She turned to face him. "Alcide Herveaux, it is a beautiful house." She kissed him.

"Might take me a while to find the time to fix it. It needs a lot of work." He looked worried. "And I want to do most of it myself. I could pay someone, but it wouldn't be the same, you know?"

"I know," she agreed. It made her feel warm inside that he would actually build their house with his own hands. "I agree and I can help." She looked mischievous. "That's a lot of bedrooms, though."

He leered at her. "Oh I don't think we'll have any problem filling them."

**AN: I don't get much time to read fanfic these days, but this one caught my interest (probably because she quotes Trent lyrics):**

**www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/7254155/1/Broken_Black_Heart**

**She has listed it under Jake/Paul but its not slash; she just hasn't decided who gets the girl yet… well, you all know who I'd be voting for… lol … **

FF_2154210_ - 7/09/2011 03:19:00 AM


	26. Arranging the wedding

**26. Arranging the wedding**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide talked her into a pre birth wedding. The Shreveport wedding would be a high society affair. All the important status pack people had to be invited plus a few vampires, so it had to be held at night. People were getting more used to night time functions, so it wasn't as weird as it first seemed to her. Little girls never dreamed of their future weddings being held at night.<p>

The most high class wedding shop in Shreveport was coincidently run by a Were. Verena Rose's Bridal and Formal Shop. If you had aspirations to class, this was where you came for your wedding gear and if you really had class it was where you went too.

Alcide's sister Janice Herveaux Phillips had come over from Jackson to help. She was going to be the only bridesmaid. She looked like Alcide's sister. She was tall, attractive, plain spoken and confident. And she loved Leah. She had two kids now. Jannalynn was many things but not really bridesmaid material and Leah knew her well enough now to know she would not appreciate being forced into a formal dress.

Verena insisted on doing Leah's dress herself. She was virtually retired after her daughter Adabelle had been killed in the witch wars [Dead to the world] but for Alcide she came out of retirement and she would do his wedding herself. Verena was an attractive woman in her late sixties. Her steel coloured hair was held in a neat roll on the back of her head. She wore a formal suit and sensible pumps. Leah had a hard time imaging her doing anything quite as undignified as turning into a wolf and running around a forest. But she could tell from her scent that she did just that.

She actually asked her permission before she placed a hand on Leah's swelling belly. She thought she heard her whisper a blessing for the babies. Alcide had told her that early miscarriages were common among the Weres and she was happy to take whatever blessings she could get. She placed her own hand over Verena's and smiled at her.

"He must be so pleased," the older woman commented.

"He's ecstatic. It's twins," she told her.

"Oh yes, he would be pleased with that. Did you want to hide it?"

Leah felt like a whale and she was astonished that the woman even thought it was possible. She shook her head. "Absolutely not. He likes me this way."

She tried on a few gowns and they both agreed on a plain simple Juliet gown that had no sleeves and a fitted band just under her breasts. It would allow her stomach to grow without major dress alterations. And it was simple enough to wear for the Quileute ceremony too. It was perfect. She knew it, the second she put it on.

She didn't like any of the function rooms on offer in Shreveport and most of them couldn't hold more than 300 people.

"Pfft. We could fit that many in the house," she commented as she sat with her feet across his lap on the sofa as he surfed on his laptop for appropriate places within the area.

He kissed her feet. "You are a genius. We'll do it here. You love the garden. It has to be at night for the deaders and we can just get in some caterers." He gave her another look. "And you would prefer that to a formal sit down dinner with toasts and everything."

"Yes. I would. But it's your wedding too."

"I don't care. Whatever makes you happy."

"You know what makes me happy," she growled at him.

"Oh yeah…" he agreed; shutting the laptop and placing it on the coffee table. He scooped her up and hauled her into his lap. "You want to do it here or upstairs in bed?" he asked.

"I vote for bed, and then I can stretch out later." She ran her hands through his tangly hair. "And I like talking to you afterwards."

"We do that, don't we? Talk after…"

"Started that the first weekend, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess it did." He carried her up the stairs. "As long as we get to 'talk' every day, I don't mind."

He undressed her and she watched him as he stripped his own clothes off. She loved watching him naked. He drooped to his knees in front of her and kissed her all over. His beard brushing across her skin and making her wriggle. She tangled her fingers in his unruly hair and held him in to her body. She breathed out; a long slow satisfied breath. Having him naked and pressed against her made everything right in her world.

He was so careful with her; worried about the babies. He handled her as if she was made of spun glass and she might shatter. He even took it easy when his heated mouth closed around her nipples. She kind of missed the dominant Alcide, but she knew he was not far away. She hoped he would get over it after the babies were born and bounce her off the walls again.

Alcide stood behind her and ran his hands all over her body, tweaking and sliding his long fingers into everywhere. She loved the way he worshipped her body. That high bed came into great use now. While her stomach was big she could still lean down and put her chest on the mattress, with a pillow if she needed it. The bed smelt like them and she loved that too. That it was marked with their mingled scents.

She pushed herself back against him. She could feel him hard and eager at her back. He slid himself between her legs until she was mewling and begging him to enter her. When he slid home she cried out. "Oh, Jesus," she groaned. When they had both finished her lifted her carefully onto the bed.

She lay on her side with Alcide tucked in behind her. His big hands were still stroking over her stomach as it jumped and wriggled.

"Man," he commented. "They had better kick each other less when they get out."

"I wish they would kick less now," she whined. "They always go nuts after sex or when I lie down."

"No, you don't, chere," he commented. "You know they are alive and healthy."

"I suppose," she conceded. "It's kind of weird being able to hear their heartbeats." She chuckled. "You shouted at the football the other day and they both jumped."

"Good. Not deaf then."

"They know you. They know your voice." She fell silent.

He sat up to look at her face. "What's the matter? You know they're healthy Dr Ludwig told you that."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You and your second opinions… she wasn't happy to do that you know… she argued she wasn't taking on new clients. And what the heck is she anyway?"

"Nobody knows," he admitted. "But she's the best doctor for supes."

Dr. Amy Ludwig **was** the best doctor to supernatural beings. She stood around three feet tall with an oddly deep voice. She had a large nose and olive skin. Her hair was a coarse golden brown and very thick and wavy. Leah wondered if she was a hobbit. She had grumbled at Alcide who towered over her, that the girl was perfectly fine and him stressing and worrying probably did her the most damage. The babies were fine, she was fine, and to take her home and make sure she ate something.

"So what's the problem then?" he pressed. "I can tell you are worrying about something."

"Emily rang. The clinic found out she has no problems. Funnily enough, the issue was with Sam. The really high metabolism of the wolves left him with a vitamin deficiency. She said he had low vitamin E, C and B12. She laughed that he never did eat enough leafy greens. That should get his little swimmers going. They think that's what stopped her getting pregnant. So they are trying again."

"So you helped and they can fix it," he stated.

"Yes, I suppose they can. I really hope that is the solution. I want her to have a child; it's all she ever wanted."

Alcide's hands moved over her skin, calming her. "They're imprinted aren't they?"

"Yes."

"I thought it was supposed to be for breeding better wolves?" he checked.

"Once Jake imprinted on a vampire hybrid that proved **that** theory was a crock of shit." She thought of something. "You're not worried about me imprinting are you?" She tried to twist back to look at his face.

"Nope. You're mine," he growled at her.

"Tearing apart my imprint might make me sad," she pointed out to him.

"How did you guess my cunning plan?" he laughed.

"I know you," she stated.

"That you do, chere," he agreed. "And you said 'might'." He kissed her shoulder.

She laughed.

They were silent for a minute or so.

Until she asked, "How come the nearest wolf pack didn't know about us?"

"They did."

"Huh?"

"You guys are freakishly huge. They stayed away. They didn't know you were shifters and no one was game to find out. At least that is what I heard. I did check and asked around after I met you that first weekend."

"So where are they?"

"Montana. But I don't want you guys associating with them now. Now we have an agreement between our packs. Don't want them muscling in, now."

"True. I'm not sure we ever made it that far east… we nearly chased that freaky red headed vamp to Canada one night, round east of Seattle and up that way. Through the forest. I don't remember seeing signs of other wolves. But then we might not have recognised them." She grinned mischievously. "Too small and weak… probably thought they were real wolves."

"Watch it," he warned her.

"Oh honey," she teased. "You're not small and weak…"

"Damn right I'm not."

FF_2154210_ - 7/09/2011 06:58:00 PM


	27. The weddings Shreveport

**27. The weddings- Shreveport**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide offered to fly all the Quileute out for the ceremony but Leah groused at him for wasting money. Besides, she argued, it was the location that mattered. And he didn't understand that none of the pack could afford accommodation, meals and clothes and all the other stuff that travelling cost. It wasn't just the airfares. They would much prefer to have their own casual ceremony in La Push. So they decided to have two ceremonies.<p>

Sue and Charlie had not been out to Shreveport before, Leah had travelled back to see them until they wouldn't let her on a plane anymore. They brought Seth with them and he was actually struck dumb by the sight of her new house. She thought it was probably a first for Seth to not be able to talk. She had tried to send them photos, but it really didn't prepare you for the actual sight. She knew he could show the rest of the pack his memories and she was aware of that as she showed him around the house and settled them all in the guest rooms.

They were off today doing touristy things together after borrowing a car from Alcide. He had appointed a younger pack member as driver and tour guide so they didn't get lost. Seeing a city with someone who actually lived there was always the best way; they knew the best cafes, the roads to use and the out of the way less popular places to see.

Janice Phillips, Alcide's sister came over early and did her hair and makeup. She and her husband were happy to stay in a hotel with their kids; that was a novelty for them. Leah sat on one of the kitchen stools and watched Alcide toss the kids around and chase them around the yard and she knew he would make a fabulous father.

He glanced up at her and must have read her thoughts. He grinned at her.

"I think he adores you," Janice commented.

"Just as well." She knew Janice was aware of her wolf side. "When he left, after that first weekend together. I was devastated," Leah admitted. "I was actually thinking of coming to Shreveport and tracking him down…"

Janice chuckled. "He probably would have got to you first. Smelt you coming…"

"Yeah, he probably would have." She beamed at him again through the window. "So when is your husband arriving?"

"Dell? He'll get here later. He's got some things to do." She paused. "He's quite conservative…" she started, and then she stopped as if she was unsure of what she wanted to say.

"So he doesn't know about Alcide's dual nature?" Leah asked.

"Oh no… I kind of guessed when I was a teen, but I don't think I have ever told _anyone_. I don't know if it will make their lives easier or harder when they finally come out, as it were. Dell won't be happy for one. And if he thinks our kids have inherited it somehow…" She shook her head.

"But they won't," Leah assured her. "Not the way Alcide explained it to me."

"I know that… but people can be funny about stuff like that. Your kids might be different though."

"He hopes so. He wants them all to be Weres. He's proud of what he is."

"It brought him and our father closer together." Janice snorted. "I guess they had common interests."

"Not quite the 'hunting with your Dad image' that most people have," Leah suggested dryly and they both laughed.

Janice watched him out the window. She looked pensive. "I'm glad for him. But that's a recent change of heart," Janice suggested.

"I know. He told me he didn't even date Weres for a long time. Until Debbie Pelt, I guess."

Janice rolled her eyes. "Ugh, that girl. I don't know where she is but I hope to hell she ain't coming back."

Leah said nothing; Alcide had sworn her to secrecy on Debbie's violent demise. Well, that's what you got when shot a vampire. She was a fool all round. She wanted to ask Sookie about her. She might see if they could get a moment alone together later. She knew Sookie and Eric were coming to the ceremony.

* * *

><p>They got married in their own yard. A celebrant performed the ceremony.<p>

She looked utterly radiant and he looked so proud. Janice got all emotional and cried and then she set Sue off.

There were marquees in the garden and they had squeezed a number of round tables along the flagstone veranda for people who wanted to sit down. The caterers had a nifty little holder that clipped on the side of the plate to hold the stem of your wine or beer glass, so that people could eat and drink standing up. They built a dance floor across the pool and that solved two problems. They didn't tear up the lawn dancing on it and no drunks could fall into the pool.

They even had a carpool organised to deliver people to where their car was parked. Some of the guests actually had drivers. They just told them to come back when they called them.

She could not believe how efficient the caterers were. They just took over the kitchen. Every single plate and piece of flatware was brought in and trucked out again. Two barmen were employed to mix cocktails and serve drinks. The bar in the living room was not large enough and they set up a marquee outside for that too. Other wait staff moved through the crowd refilling glasses and taking away empty ones. Others collected empty plates and tidied up around the guests.

The whole yard was transformed with fairy lights hung in the all of the trees and lamps with candles inside, spread through the garden. Leah had wanted to try brown paper bags with candles inside. She had seen it on some television show, but it was an abject failure; all the bags kept catching on fire. Luckily they had tried it out at a pack function the month before the wedding. Alcide ended up deputising someone as fire marshal and they ran all over the yard with a watering can pouring water on the flare-ups. Leah almost sulked; it had looked so pretty. So she agreed to the candle lanterns and Alcide was happy that she didn't burn the house down.

* * *

><p>She must have been broadcasting that she wanted to talk to Sookie. At one stage the diminutive blonde suggested they have a quiet rest under a tree in the back corner of the yard. The noise of the party would cover their conversation, even for Weres.<p>

"Get you off those feet for a while…" Sookie suggested.

Leah gave her an assessing glance.

Sookie reached down and pulled Leah's feet up onto her lap. "I work in a bar and some nights my feet ache something awful. And I can just tell you want to ask me something…" she pre-empted. "About Debbie?"

Leah nodded. "But first… how did you meet him?"

"Alcide?" she checked.

Leah nodded.

"Oh that was Eric. I was attacked by a Were from Jackson. Alcide's father had been gambling at a vampire casino. They held his marker. Eric asked Alcide to do a job for him to pay that marker off. Alcide was protection in case the Weres tried again, and a fake date for me. We went to Jackson, stayed in his apartment and I used my ability to try and find a missing friend of mine. Oh Lawd, I was just heartbroken. He was my vampire Bill and he'd broken up with me and disappeared. I was all kinds of messed up. But Alcide was just the sweetest thang. I can remember he was so worried that I wouldn't have the right clothes for this fancy bar he was supposed to take me to, and that I would be shamed in front of the other girls. Not many guys think like that." [Book 3 Club dead]

"He loves buying me clothes," Leah confessed. "He did it the first weekend we were together. Bought me an outfit and took me a to a high class restaurant.

Sookie laughed. "He gave me the most beautiful black velvet wrap. I still love it. He replaced one that mean ol' Debbie burnt a hole in. My beautiful silk shawl."

"So you met Debbie Pelt?"

"She was in the bar that first night; announcing her engagement." Sookie gave a kind of body shudder. "She was an ugly person, inside… you know? She was nasty and in the end, downright rude. She accused him of renting me for the night."

Leah made a pained face.

"Oh yeah," agreed Sookie. "And the whole time, all she could think about was how good Alcide was in the sack; much better than her fiancé…"

Leah laughed. He was damn good in the sack. And then she realised she must have been sending that thought to Sookie too and she almost blushed. She had forgotten how to keep a lock on her head; the way she used to have to. The same as with the pack mind, she couldn't seem to stop the image of the standing sixty nine from leaping into her head.

"Oh my," said Sookie and she fanned herself with her hand.

The sat silently each lost in their own thoughts for a while, watching the party guests mingle.

Sookie spoke again, "I didn't know much about shifters and the dual natured then. And Alcide made a big mistake," Sookie sounded a little sorrowful. "We had to go back to the bar the next night and I was attacked." She uttered a bitter chuckle. "Staked, would you believe? By a human… seems ironic. But it was the first night of the full moon…"

"He changed," Leah suggested.

"Yes he did. Chased the assassin's companion and left me wounded and alone in the bar."

"Big mistake," Leah agreed.

"I can understand now how hard it would have been for him with the excitement and the blood and the moon 'n all. It's along and ugly story, but I ended up hiding in the empty apartment next door and listening to him and Debbie arguing. He told me later, she asked him to kill me. And she had already been to Janice's to bitch about me. She took every opportunity to insult Janice."

"I like Janice," Leah stated. "He told me he thought Debbie might have used witchcraft on him. That he kept forgiving her for the unforgivable."

"I didn't know about witchcraft then either, but I think that may be true. Her mother dabbled." She rubbed Leah's feet. "I knew then… he said something about Debbie being a shifter not a Were… as if there was a big difference in his mind. I knew then that he would never be happy with anyone but another Were. And here you are!"

"And here **you** are…" his deep voice rumbled. Neither of them had heard his approach. "You stealing my girl, Sookie?"

"Just getting her off her feet. How do you cope with the stairs in the house?" she asked suddenly.

Leah chortled. "I go very, very slowly and hang onto the railing like some ancient old lady." She glanced at her new husband. "Or Alcide carries me."

"So how did you two meet?" Sookie asked them.

"Walked into a bar and he was there and he smelt really, really good," Leah said with a smirk.

Alcide grinned at her. "Ditto," he simply said.

Sookie patted her feet and lifted them back onto the ground. "There you go, girl."

"Thanks Sookie," Leah stated. "For everything."

"Oh I might see more of you both if y'all get working on that house. We'll be neighbours," she chuckled. "May I?" she asked, indicating Leah's stomach.

Leah nodded.

Sookie placed her hands on Leah's swollen tummy.

Alcide spoke, "I am sorry to put you back on those feet darlin', but some people are asking after you."

"Oh," Sookie gasped. "They know their father."

"Yes, they do. They always react to his voice," Leah stated.

"No… they love him… it's more like an emotion than a clear thought. I've been spending more time with my fae cousins." She shrugged.

"Really? They love me?" Alcide sounded so touched. Sookie beamed at him.

"Gosh, I think they might both be Weres… its hard to describe, but I always see Weres as red and tangly brained… they have some of that already… even though I know they are too young…"

"It's the next one he is worried about," Leah suggested. "We could assume that at least one of these will be a shifter…"

"Oh… well hopefully I can check that one out for you then."

"I'd really appreciate that Sookie," Alcide breathed at her.

"No problem at all. I had better find Eric; I can just tell he's pretending to be bored. But he actually likes weddings."

Each woman put an arm through Alcide's and they made their way slowly, at pregnant Leah pace, back to greet their guests.

Eric suddenly loomed out of the garden. He almost gave Leah a shock.

He bowed his head to Alcide in the formal way he had and then held his hand out to Leah. "Dance?" Alcide nodded and relinquished her arm, handing her over to Eric carefully.

She looked doubtful. "I can't dance," she hissed at them both.

"But I can," Eric stated.

"I'm the size of a whale…" she blustered.

He just smiled at her and whisked her away. She was glad she had rested her feet earlier, because Eric could dance. He whirled her away and onto the dance floor. She felt weightless and elegant as he led her strongly in a waltz. Holding her carefully so her stomach was not too much in the way. She was glad in a way; she was a little nervous about being held too closely by the vampire. Her innate physicality granted her extra stamina and grace and they looked beautiful together. She noticed Alcide watching her and he didn't look jealous, just seriously in love with her.

"See," Eric said as if he had won an argument. "You must see the vampire ballroom dancers. Sean and Layla are exceptional. Partners in all ways. A tragic tale of lust and murder." [Charlaine Harris short story 'Dancers in the Dark']

"Murder?"

"Hers," he stated enigmatically.

They swirled on together.

He spoke again, "I will obtain tickets for you both when the Blue Moon dance group is next performing."

"I-I'd like that," she admitted.

He leaned down towards her neck. "He always finishes the dance by sinking his fangs into her neck," he whispered to her.

"Hopefully, they'll skip that part the night I see them," she suggested without reacting.

Eric grinned at her again, exposing his fangs. He was very different to the Cullens. Infinitely more dangerous. She was rescued by Charlie tapping on the vampire's shoulder. Eric bowed his head to her again and squeezed her hand gently before releasing her into her almost step father's care.

"You okay?" Charlie asked. He shivered. "That guy gives me the creeps…" he admitted.

Leah grinned at him. "Thanks for rescuing me Charlie. But I can look after myself you know…"

"Hey kiddo, not with my grandchildren on board you can't…"

She was going to argue with him, there was also an entire pack of wolves guarding her, but she let him win that round. "Thanks."

"This has been a beautiful day, well I suppose it's more of an evening really," Charlie said sounding oddly wistful. "Are you happy?"

"Happier than I ever thought I had a right to be," Leah admitted.

"Your mother thinks he is just fabulous. I'm so glad it all worked out for you. She's taking all the credit, you know."

Leah laughed. "She did phone him… I'll give her that."

**[AN: SM let Edward feel his baby's emotions so I let Alcide do it too. And I needed some way to confirm that all their children would be Weres; Sookie seemed the obvious solution. And notashamedtobe wanted Eric to dance.]**

FF_2154210_ - 9/09/2011 04:28:00 AM


	28. The weddings La push

**28. The weddings- La push**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

**AN: I just realised that I have left off the thanks to my beta and pre-readers… bad, bad girl… I cut and pasted it from Apologies and that hot mess was all mine.**

**_Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and prereading._**

* * *

><p>Leah managed to find an airline that would take her with a letter from her doctor to assure them that she was not going to give birth tomorrow; that she really was under thirty five weeks pregnant, that it was twins and that was why she was so big. Airlines didn't like having to land somewhere because one of their passengers had gone into labour so they just didn't let you on the plane. It also helped that she was not travelling alone. So she and Alcide flew back to La Push and had a simple time-honoured blanket ceremony on the beach performed by Billy as their chief. Charlie gave her away and was ecstatic to do so.<p>

Sue Clearwater found the traditional Quileute bridal veil that she had worn on her wedding day. It was repaired and restored to perfection. The traditional symbols hung from a headband: a shell for fertility, a coin for wealth, a thimble to show she was a good provider for her family, and a bell to show her vigilance and care for her family. Jake carved a small wolf out of driftwood for her and that was attached as well. The driftwood had faded to a lightish grey colour, very much like her wolf colouring. She asked him to carve another wolf for Alcide. That one was made from a pale creamy coloured wood to reflect his wolf colouring too. They balanced each other hanging on the outer sides of the veil.

Alcide wore a black shirt and black trousers. Neither felt the cold and she assured him that it was not really a suit occasion. Although she was certain he had one in his suitcase, just in case. He made her laugh like that.

Neither wore shoes.

They stood on a special woven mat that later would be given to an elder. All Leah's direct relatives were gone. Sue had been a Uley before she got married to Harry Clearwater. So her mother would get it as Leah's eldest living relative. The food in baskets and hand made pots was spread around the edges of the mat.

The gifts for Leah were handmade items like baskets and beadwork. She would treasure them all and find places for them in her new home. Leah noticed that they were not quite sure what to give Alcide. Normally he would have had mannish presents like fishing rods, guns and knives. She guessed that they thought he didn't need anything like that so they had gone the hardware route and got him hammers and tools. He actually looked pleased with that.

She had explained the ceremony to him weeks ago. The theory was that at your birth you were wrapped in a blanket and at your death you had a blanket shroud. The tribe viewed marriage as another life step, and believed that you should be wrapped in a blanket for that stage too.

They stood a distance apart facing each other and each wrapped in a blue blanket. As Billy said the words of the ceremony, the blue blankets were removed by Sue and Emily, standing in for Alcide's mother. Leah wanted her involved somehow and the ceremony didn't really have bridesmaids. Alcide was happy that Leah was happy and he knew that Sam would not be any trouble; he had smacked him down so comprehensively at the pack meeting. And then they were wrapped as one in a white blanket. They cuddled together under the white blanket. Alcide kissed her to make it official, his hands as always, reaching for her stomach and their babies.

They already had their rings from the earlier Shreveport ceremony.

Alcide whispered to her. "You look amazing… you look like you stepped out of a book or something…"

"Thank you. You look pretty amazing yourself."

Traditionally, if they divorced the white blanket would be torn in half. In the meantime it was meant to be hung in their home, as a reminder of their commitment to each other. Leah wasn't really sure it was appropriate for Shreveport but she would find somewhere to put it. Maybe across the foot of their bed.

Sue carefully put away her headdress for the next family wedding. Hopefully it would be Seth's.

The reception was held in the tribal meeting hall. They hadn't sent out invitations and people just came or not; it was very casual.

Seth hugged her hard. He had had a great time in Shreveport, and was the subject of much interest from the unattached females in Alcide's pack and a few who were attached. It was a side of her brother that she knew existed but had never really witnessed before. He was so nice; so happy and utterly charming that the females liked him instantly. Alcide laughed that the number of women interested in coming to Washington to 'train' with the Quileute pack had increased dramatically.

Even Jannalynn had given him a second look.

"It's only been a week and I swear you have got bigger!" Seth exclaimed. "What are they doing in there?"

"Growing… and pummelling each other, I think."

Seth grinned at her. "Cool. Just like us."

She rolled her eyes.

Rachel Black as an old friend of Leah's made sure she was there for the wedding. Not that she could stand being away from Paul for very long. They had imprinted a while ago just before the Volturi arrived.

They were having a quiet chat during the reception. Rachel had finished college and was tossing up her future options; limited now by her being Paul's imprint. Sometimes Leah suspected the imprints were just as trapped as the wolves. She and Emily had talked about it in their phone conversations and they had caught up when she had been back to the rez on her own. She had avoided Sam, and Emily hadn't pushed it. Emily admitted she and Sam had been working at their relationship. The problems conceiving hadn't helped. The imprint just seemed to overwrite feelings and she understood now that he still loved Leah as much as he ever did. It was just plastered over. His attempt to keep them both had almost caused him to _lose_ them both. That, and the fact that Leah had clearly moved on, had given Sam quite a shock. Enough that he had pulled his head in and was behaving himself. Not being the alpha had reduced a lot of stress for him as well. He still phased; that was hard to let go. But being away from each other had helped a lot too, Jake had been right about that.

Leah got the impression that Paul wasn't doing much of anything besides fucking Rachel and driving Billy and Jake nuts hanging around the house and eating all their food. He ate a lot, even for a wolf. Leah needed to get her feet up and Alcide and Embry were off chatting together close to the speakers where she couldn't hear them. She gave Embry a suspicious glance but he was looking blissfully innocent. She wondered if he was planning some vampire hunting expedition for Alcide. He had expressed a wish to tear one apart with impunity.

"Man, I feel like crap. All achy and cranky," Rachel complained.

"You're not sick?" None of the wolves got sick but it didn't stop their imprints from falling ill and their wolf partners making everyone nuts in the process. She knew if Rachel was ill, her babies would be fine but she still worried about everything that could affect them.

"No… I don't know… I just feel weird. And I don't know where Paul has got to."

Leah had an awful thought. She needed to talk to Paul. She made an excuse. "I need to see what mischief my husband and Embry are getting up to. Those two are just getting too friendly." She pushed herself upright. She was getting so big. Alcide saw her movement and he watched her approach. He looked like he was resisting the urge to carry her across the room.

She had actually forgotten to worry about whatever those two were up to. "Em have you seen Paul?"

"He's around. Why?"

"Rachel said she feels weird. I just wanted to ask him some stuff."

"What's up?" Alcide asked. He could tell she was worried about something.

"I don't know… I just want to see if Rachel has been really cranky lately…"

"Oh, I can answer that one," Embry stated. "Paul is in constant trouble with her at the minute. It's no wonder he's left her alone. She's making him crazy and she's his imprint and he is trying to hide from her. **That's** how bad she is."

"Oh no." Leah looked horrified.

"Leah?" Alcide asked.

She clutched at his arm. "I didn't know," she half wailed.

"What? What didn't you know?" Alcide looked concerned.

"If any other female was going to phase it'd be one of the Black girls. They've got the same heritage as me."

"What do you mean?" Embry checked.

"I left. And Rebecca is in Hawaii. There's only Rachel left. And she has my symptoms."

Alcide guessed. "What if the pack was always meant to have a female, Embry?"

"Jesus," Embry swore as he put it all together. "Shit! It would go for the next available one with the right genes."

They all looked at Rachel across the room. She had found Paul or maybe he had found her, but she did not look happy. He had his hands held up in a surrender gesture but she was barking something at him and jabbing him in the chest with a finger.

"She's vibrating," Embry noted. "I'd better get over there." He put down his drink and jogged across the room. Alcide grabbed Leah's arm when she looked as if she would follow. "No," he simply said staring at her intently.

"I can help…"

But he wouldn't release her arm. "You can't go near her if she is going to phase, Leah."

"She's my friend."

"The boys will look after her… Paul is there… he loves her…"

"It's my fault… I need to help my friend."

"She hurts you and she won't be your friend," he stated.

She stopped. If Rachel hurt her, Alcide would tear her apart. Especially if she hurt the babies. He wouldn't be able to stop himself.

They watched as Embry whispered something in Paul's ear and then they each grabbed an arm and hoisted Rachel towards an external door. She was making quite a scene now demanding that they let her go and explain what the fuck was going on. Jake entered the back door of the hall. Renesmee had wanted to watch the ceremony. The other Cullens had stayed away and Leah actually appreciated that. Jake must have just got back from taking his imprint home.

His head lifted, sensing trouble. He glanced at Leah and she mouthed, "Rachel" at him and jerked her head after the departing trio. Jake jogged after them.

"This is all my fault," she whispered.

"Leah, this is not your fault. It was probably always meant to happen." Alcide sighed. He let go of her arm and put his arm around her shoulders. He knew she wasn't going to try to help now. "In a way, maybe it should have happened earlier and then at least you wouldn't have been alone. You might have had another female."

"I think you might be right. They only need one female." She put her hand over her rounded belly. "And if it was me, then I wouldn't have this. Or you."

He smiled at her and pulled her as close as she could get with her big belly. "Love you," he said.

They heard a wolf howl and Leah tensed in his arms.

"Guess that's her," he said.

"Yep," she agreed. She didn't recognise the howl. "Fuck!"

* * *

><p>He booked their room at the hotel in Port Angeles… just for old time's sake.<p>

"This is your fault," she told the room when she walked in the door. She turned and looked at Alcide behind her. He had already brought their bags up and then gone back down the stairs and collected her. "Did you book the rooms on either side too?"

"Of course," he stated.

She just looked at him. How could she have been so lucky? She adored him. "You're my everything," she suddenly said.

He looked almost concerned. He frowned at her. She loved that little M frown between his brows.

Maybe it was the pregnancy and the wedding and the whole day but she was suddenly overly emotional. It was out of character for her. She bottled stuff up so well; she tried to deal with things on her own but he had just derailed her from the moment she had met him. Knocked her clear off her rails.

"You're my mate… my man… my wolf… my husband… my… _everything_…" she told him.

"Oh chere," he murmured and then she was in his arms and he was kissing away her tears. "Is it this room?" he asked mischievously.

"Humph," she grunted at him. "Are you ruining my romantic moment?"

"No. I was just thinking the same thing. Now you're mine in every way too. And I like it," he growled out. He started peeling her out of her dress. Pressing his lips against her skin. "And these are mine…" as he held her stomach. "And these…" as he kissed her lips. "And these…" as he brushed his thumbs across her aching nipples. "And this…" as he slid his hand between her legs. "Mine," he growled.

"Yes," she breathed at him. "All yours." Her fingers were busy with the buttons on his shirt. Her hands sliding along the skin of his chest and pushing the shirt out of the way. She moaned in anticipation.

He lay her on the mattress on her left side. He had read somewhere that pregnant woman should lie on that side to ease the strain on their heart and blood vessels. She laughed at him always rolling her over. He held her top leg up and buried his face in her. She grabbed at his head with her hand and ground herself onto his face. In the later months of her pregnancy she was so horny. But for once, she was determined to wear _him_ out.

He still wasn't good with her in a dominant position, but he wanted to see her face as he fucked her so he sat on the edge of the bed and held her on his lap. She leant backwards at an angle to give her stomach some room and he held her at the shoulders and pulled her onto him. Then they tried spooning, from behind with her on her hands and knees, and lying almost in a T position.

The second time he turned the air conditioning down she laughed at him. "Too much for you, huh?"

He pounced on her. "I am not admitting defeat!" he growled. They showered together, tried to order middle of the night pizzas but it was too late so they ate the mini bar instead and went back to bed.

In the end she cried 'uncle' and he was triumphant.

"I'll get you one day," she mumbled almost incoherently at him. "I'm just not at the top of my game right now." She snuggled down to go to sleep. "Oh fuck…" she groaned.

"What?"

"You'll be awake at fucking dawn, too… won't you?"

He grinned at her and wrapped her up in his arms. He kissed the side of her head.

"Love you."

"Muvh… y…" she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>He let her sleep in. He said it was her wedding present. Truth was he was lying there watching her sleep and watching every shift and twitch and loving her more. They ordered pizzas for a very late breakfast instead.<p>

They were lying in bed together naked and talking after sex as they always did. "You know chere, there's something I have always meant to ask you," Alcide said.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a vagina tattooed on your arm?"

"It's the traditional pack tattoo and it is **not** a vagina."

"Really? Looks like one to me."

"Well I guess you've seen a few," she chuckled. "And pretty close up."

"You want a mirror?" he asked with a grin. "It's even got a clitoris."

"Oh rubbish," she grunted at him. "It's two wolves around… a…" She was trying to look at her own tattoo upside down. "See they have teeth and paws… held up around a … round… thingy…"

"Vagina," he prompted.

She pushed herself off the bed and waddled into the bathroom. He heard a scream. "Oh my god! It is a vagina. Oh for fuck's sake!"

It was all she could say for the next fifteen minutes until he suggested laser removal, pointing out that she wasn't part of that pack anymore anyway and she didn't need to keep it.

"Traditional design, my ass," she grunted. "It's a wonder Paul didn't recognise it." She grumbled for a while. "Do you know what I went through to get this tattoo? A fast healing Were? It was fucking agony. It will have to stay."

"You know what I will be thinking of every time I see it…" Alcide suggested wickedly.

"Pfft," she said. "That's all you think about anyway."

FF_2154210_ - 10/09/2011 01:49:00 PM


	29. Tradition

**29. Tradition**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

* * *

><p>Alcide was overseeing a pack meeting. It could probably be better named as a small claims tribunal. People came to him as their leader with niggly little complaints; things that only related to the Were world. He was bored today and trying spectacularly hard not to look it.<p>

He almost groaned when he saw the next petitioner. This guy was exhausting normally, but he really wasn't sure he was up for his antics today. The pack inherited a few members stationed at the Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City. Weres were often found in professions that required strength and stamina. Sometimes they were slow to assimilate into a new pack.

"Giles Renault," he greeted him. "What is your complaint?"

"You defeated a challenger in single combat last week, pack-master."

Rather easily as it turned out. Alcide could have guessed that this was his complaint and he could also guess the rest of Giles's issue. "Yes, I did. And," he prompted; knowing there was more to come.

"It's your duty as a full blood Were to lie over a woman," Giles blithely stated.

There was an odd pause in the conversations in the room. People who hadn't really been paying attention started to do so now.

"So you think that because I won the battle, I should have fucked some young were girl?"

"It is tradition."

"Are you accusing me of not fulfilling my pack duties? I am breeding for the pack. Twins." He looked so pleased.

"It is a standard custom, pack-master."

"Yeah," Alcide looked doubtful. "I just don't think that would be a good idea."

"Tradition, pack-master."

Christ, the guy was like a broken record. "Oh yes, I understand that." He paused. "It's just …I don't think my wife would like it."

"Other pack-master wives tolerate it."

"Yes, they do. But if it took, she wouldn't be pregnant for long," Alcide pointed out. "Or alive for that matter." He paused. There were some small snickers at the back of the room. "I'd give her what, five minutes to bleed out, Jannalynn?"

Giles looked clueless.

Jannalynn, his second snorted. "Or less, if she ripped her throat out," she suggested wickedly.

"She?" Giles asked.

"My wife, Leah. She's really not happy about women standing within two feet of me, let alone fucking me on the floor of the pack combat room. **I'd** be in trouble, but they would be dead. And I just don't think we can afford to lose any more females, Giles." He sounded perfectly reasonable. But he suspected Giles wouldn't let it go.

"But it is the tradition…" Giles argued.

"Honestly, Giles have you met my mate in her wolf form?"

He shook his head.

"Do you want to?" asked Alcide. The snickers were louder now. This guy was startlingly, maybe fatally stupid; how had he survived this long?

Something about the eagerness of the others in the room finally got through to Giles. "I-I don't think that will be necessary pack-master," he blustered looking around at the eager faces of other pack members.

Alcide leaned forwards. He did not look friendly now. "Good. Because she's different; she's not like other shifters. Her wolf is **very** close to the surface; she doesn't need a full moon to shift easily. And it takes almost no energy for her to shift back and forth. And she's big Giles. Her wolf is bigger than probably all the males in our pack. Isn't she Jannalynn?"

She nodded vigorously. She looked eager to let Leah tear this guy apart. Bouncing on her feet a little with her excitement.

"Leah would tear apart another female if they even **touched** me, let alone bore my child. She's pregnant with twins right now and I suspect she might still be capable of that. In fact I think she'd be _worse_ now. The pregnancy has brought out the mother thing."

Giles looked like he was going to roll on his back or piss himself or maybe both.

"And I'll tell you something else, Giles. If you upset her, and she shifts now and we lose my babies, **I'll** tear apart whoever caused it."

Giles nodded.

"So, as my second is female, and physically unable to do it for me, I am sure there is another wolf that would be happy to oblige. Maybe the new enforcer? He's tough, strong and unmated. It could be a permanent mating. And that would be a good thing for the whole pack. But I suggest we leave it until after the next unsuccessful challenge."

"Yes, pack-master."

Giles scuttled away.

Alcide's concerns about Jannalynn being overworked had set into him appointing a new enforcer. She was a little disappointed but he had explained that he didn't want her burning herself out. And running the Hair of the Dog was almost a full time job for her. Let alone being his second. He promised to let her smash a skull in occasionally. She eventually agreed because it gave her more time to spend with her Sam.

The meeting wound up and eventually Alcide and Jannalynn were alone.

Alcide spoke, "You know I think I can see Leah's point; if she touched someone, I'd kill them, so why can't she argue the same thing? Even if it is supposed to be fathering new Weres."

"The whole pack system is run by males, Alcide. It's not going to change easily."

Alcide nodded. "We cling to these traditions that stop females being pack masters, simply because they can't fuck the willing girl and there is no point to having a willing guy."

"True. Look at Giles. He's clinging to his tradition with no real clue as to why it exists."

"A pregnancy for a female pack leader would be the kiss of death. It would be perceived by all challengers as a weakness. So as a female, you can't embrace the traditions. Not even if your life depended on it."

He thought of his children and he hoped that things would have changed a little more for them, by the time they were both accepted into the pack. Assuming Sookie was right and they were both Weres. And he wondered again about the other children that he hoped would follow.

He felt a twinge of guilt. He had embraced the custom eagerly in the past. In the aftermath of a battle, with blood spilt on the challenge floor and the scent of adrenaline invading his senses. He had done his duty. But as far as he knew, no children had eventuated. So the argument that it might breed more Weres was not so true either. Just as well. He could not imagine Leah being pleased to hear about that now.

And he would refrain now. It just didn't appeal to him anymore. He was a mated male and he was happy with his wolf partner. Now if _she_ was happy to go for it on the challenge floor, he'd have no problems performing at all…

FF_2154210_ - 11/09/2011 01:57:00 PM


	30. The birth

**30. The birth**

**Disclaimer:**_** the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer or Charlaine Harris - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.**_

_**Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and prereading.**_

* * *

><p>Leah insisted that the babies be born in La Push and she couldn't get on a commercial plane that late in the pregnancy. She also didn't want to go there weeks before and live without Alcide. So the only solution was a private plane. It was that, or make a long road trip and drive all the way to La Push. Alcide voted against that one. He'd have to gain permission from a dozen wolf packs to pass through their lands and he wouldn't risk her or the babies if it went wrong. He also couldn't really take the time off work to miss an extra week travelling. He preferred to spend it with his newborns once they actually arrived.<p>

He called in a favour with some influential businessman who had his own plane. She suggested asking the Cullens if they had one, but he refused. Said the pack could owe this guy a favour.

They spent some days together in La Push with Sue and Charlie who were so pleased to have them stay.

She went into labour without any drama and Alcide didn't panic or lose it like a lot of new fathers. The twins knew how to queue. And they did what their Nanna told them to. Sue delivered them and she was so excited, but still so professional. Leah coped very well with the labour. She had a moment in the gap between each birth where she said she was leaving and she almost tried to do so, but Alcide told her he wanted to meet his other child and she was not going anywhere. He had a son and he wanted to know what the next one was.

The second one was a girl.

They were both ecstatic.

She already looked like her mother. She had the same dark skin. Alcide fell madly in love with her on the spot. She was smaller than her brother. He had dark curly hair. Sue commented that it might all fall out later, but right now, he looked just like his father. The same unruly black hair and swarthy skin.

They had to put them in the same cot; they fussed if they were apart. Alcide could not stop touching them and looking at them. He could not get over the fact that they were his. Two little people. Two whole little people. He checked them all over, counting fingers and toes. And sniffing at them.

"Oh, I need to take a photo to send to Jannalynn."

Leah insisted that he guard them. He rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. As if anything was going to attack them in a shifter community. He assured her that they would be fine and she needed to sleep.

He was studying them intently while Leah was napping, when he heard Embry approach.

"Hey," Embry whispered.

"Come look," Alcide waved him over. They cooed appreciatively over the cradle. The boy woke at his father's voice. His serious dark eyes locked onto them and he yawned.

"Man, that is so cute." Embry reached for him and in a startle reflex the baby's arms jerked out to the sides. He hit his sister in the face. She woke and cried and Embry picked her up instead.

"Shush," he hushed her. "Did your big, mean brother whack you in the face?" he crooned at her. He cradled her into his chest. He rubbed her face with the back of his fingers and she turned towards it as if he was going to feed her. And then she opened her eyes.

His legs collapsed under him. Luckily there was a chair nearby. He staggered to it and sat down. She quieted immediately.

Alcide was cradling the boy. "You've got a gift there, Embry. She calmed right down with you," he commented.

"**What?"** Leah screeched. "Give me my daughter, Embry Call."

Embry held her away from Leah.

Alcide was confused. "What is happening?"

"Oh, Alcide… I told you to guard them," Leah wailed.

"From Embry?" he was still confused.

"And any other un-imprinted wolf."

"Well you didn't say that," he blustered. He waved at Embry with one hand. "He's all right with her," he rationalised.

Leah sighed. "No, he is **not**. Look at him, Alcide."

He frowned. Embry didn't look any different to him. "What am I looking _for_?"

"A kind of a look… like they have been smacked upside the head with a fish."

Embry had the grace to look slightly ashamed. "Sorry guys," he muttered.

"Oh fuck me. NO!" Leah threw her head back on the bed.

Alcide growled. "I didn't know it could happen to babies! I've had her for less than a day and he has imprinted on her? Is that what happened?"

"Yeah. And it's your fault!"

"You didn't say… keep all _wolves_ away from her," he blustered. "And if it was going to happen… it would have happened anyway… in the future… wouldn't it? We can't avoid the place forever." He frowned again. He was confusing himself.

Leah made some harsh noise that sounded like a grudging agreement.

"You wanted to have them here in La Push…" Alcide added. He quite liked Embry and if anyone was good enough for his daughter it _might_ be him. "Wait a second," he said. "He'll be too old for her. You know… when she's grown up and everything."

"No, he won't be," explained Leah. "We have delayed aging. If we keep phasing we don't age."

"You are **kidding** me? You never told me that!" Alcide grinned suddenly. He leered at her.

"What?" she asked suspiciously; she knew that look.

"You mean you are going to look this hot for the rest of **my** life?"

She chortled. "Yes, I suppose I am." Typical man; everyone else got nervous about aging and leaving their partner behind and all he could think about was how hot she would still look. She chuckled again.

"All right!" He sounded ecstatic.

"Men…" Leah grizzled. But she looked pleased.

Embry had held the baby upright; tucking her in against his neck. She was hungry so she fastened onto the skin of his neck. He laughed. "Look, she's marking me," he crowed.

"Idiot. Hand her over, she's hungry," Leah told him.

He did so, but he hung around Leah and watched her feed.

"You stare at my tits and I am gonna thump you," Leah growled at him.

"I'm not looking at **you**," he justified.

"No," Leah agreed. He only had eyes for his girl. It was so obvious.

"Marking?" Alcide asked.

Embry answered him. "Tribal wolves can mark their partner with a bite. Usually around the neck."

Alcide remembered biting Leah on the back of the neck in the hotel room. "Really?" he asked. "She sank her teeth into me during the labour," he added waving his arm at Embry.

"I did? When? I don't remember doing that," Leah looked a little perturbed.

"See." He held his wrist out to her. On the middle of his forearm was a neat set of teeth marks. They had healed but left a scar.

"Wow. Guess that counts."

Alcide was sitting in the chair now, holding the boy. "So what are we going to call them?" he asked.

"You didn't work it out beforehand?" Embry sounded surprised.

Alcide rolled his eyes. "Miss Superstition wouldn't allow it."

Embry chuckled.

"There are a few different names in our family tree; Julia, Eliza and Molly," she said, stroking her head as she fed. Embry was leaning closer and closer. "But I'd like to call her Charlotte after Mum's mother."

"I agree. And she'll love it," he said.

"What… this is **my** daughter, you know," Alcide blustered.

Embry looked unapologetic. "It's Leah's grandmother's name. Embry and Charlotte," he breathed.

"What was your father's name? Jackson?" Leah asked completely ignoring Embry.

"Yes. You would do that for me?"

"He's your son."

"Charlotte and Jackson Herveaux," Leah tried them out.

Seth barrelled in the door. "Is that their names?"

She glanced at Alcide. "Charlie and Jack," he said. He nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. "That's their names."

"Cool. Can I have a nurse?" Alcide passed him Jackson carefully. "I love babies," Seth said. "And a girl," he prattled on. "You had better keep her away from the un-imprinted wolves. Gosh knows what Leah will do to anyone who gazes into her eyes and goes all stupid…"

Embry growled.

Seth guffawed. "Are you kidding me?"

Alcide looked upset again. "It's her fault… she didn't explain very well what I was supposed to be guarding them **from**…"

"He let Embry pick her up…," interrupted Leah.

"…And whammo," finished Embry.

"Uh huh," said Seth. He noted that nobody seemed particularly upset about it. He thought Embry was a pretty good guy and he knew Alcide liked him. Out of all the wolves, he would have thought Embry was the best really. He and Leah exchanged a look. She kind of nodded. Seth smiled.

After that, there was an endless stream of visitors to see them all. Embry refused to leave and growled at everyone who held Charlotte; they all just completely ignored him.

Leah assured Alcide that he would get over it eventually. "Quil is much better now than he used to be…really."

Sue pitched a fit and threw all the visitors out early evening.

Leah and Alcide lay on the bed together. They were on their sides with their babies between them.

Alcide cupped her face. "I adore you Leah Clearwater. I am so glad all three of you are healthy and we all got through this." He kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too. And I am so glad I could give you a son. After everything I thought … I never thought I would have this…" she waved a hand at them all.

"You deserve it. You know I was thinking about something Embry said," Alcide started. "About marking?"

"Yeah."

"I bit you… in the hotel room…"

"Fuck! The wall sex."

"Yes. I bit you right across the back of your neck. Do you think I marked you?"

"I had forgotten all about that." She felt on the back of her neck with a hand. "There's no mark…"

"I've never noticed one…" He shrugged.

Leah thought about it for a minute. "Maybe it's more the doing than the actual scar that matters… That actually might explain a lot. How much we missed each other…"

"I thought I was in some kind of mating frenzy."

"I guess it might display as that…wow."

"Lucky I _already_ loved you," he stated.

"You did?"

"In retrospect, yes. I wanted you to be mine from the second I smelt you in that bar."

She grinned at him. "Yeah, me too."

There was silence for a minute as they gazed at each other.

"Sam knew," Leah said quietly.

"Knew what?"

"He told Embry. He said that watching us meet was like watching a train crash. He thought it was inevitable that we were going to end up together and there was nothing he could do to stop it happening."

"Interesting. So why did he even try?"

"Emily said that they have realised the imprinting just overwrites other emotions. So he still loved me."

Alcide looked pensive. "He failed at keeping us apart though, eh?"

"Sam told Embry that he had a bad feeling about that meeting before you even arrived. That he felt that everything after that was going to change. He thought it was a watershed moment. That everything after that meeting was going to be different somehow, he could just feel it."

"Very interesting."

They looked at their babies.

"We make beautiful babies Alcide Herveaux."

"Yes, we do."

"So do you think it was the actual biting that made me pregnant, or the attempt to fuck me through the wall?" she asked him mischievously. "Oh wait…" she crowed. "The cream pie…"

He frowned. "Not in front of the children, chere." He kissed her again. "Guess we'll have to try again to find out."

She grinned at him. "Give me a year and we can try again."

He made a noise of disagreement. "Pfft," he said. "You'll be jumping me in a week."

* * *

><p><strong>The end.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: the end of another story. Imprinting rears its ugly head again. As I have said before, I have issues with it; more as time goes on and I put more thought into the actual implications of it. But Embry is a good guy and he gets on well with Alcide. If it had to happen, they'd all be happy with him, so he got the prize.<strong>

**There is not a lot of detail in the Sookie books about Alcide's pack so I have cobbled together what I could and made up some more.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and comments. I do love reading them and sometimes they inspire me.**

**If anyone is a member of jacobblacknpack don't forget to vote in the upcoming Summer 2011 awards… I've written a huge pile of words since September last year and I suppose some of them might get nominated for something…**

**My next outing will be the extension of the Sam/Bella one shot "he's gone". I am going to make an evil Emily… people say it can't be done… mwahaha… but give me a while to finish it and then I will get posting! See you all then!**

FF_2154210_ - 12/09/2011 04:20:00 AM


End file.
